A transgender politician has entangled Montana’s Republican-controlled statehouse. Since April 18, Rep. Zooey Zephyr, Montana’s first openly transgender woman elected to the Legislature last year, has been barred from commenting during debates. She said colleagues who backed a ban on gender-affirming juvenile care would have “blood” on their hands. Calls for her to apologize went unheeded.
The dispute centres on the hotly debated topic of gender-affirming care for minors. Montana lawmakers also passed a restriction on gender-affirming health treatment and a bill that says it’s not criminal to misgender or deadname a pupil unless it amounts to bullying. Zephyr has compared care bans like this to “eradication”.
During a debate on the governor’s proposed amendments to the gender-affirming care ban, Zephyr spoke against the bill, stating, “I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands”. A group of conservative lawmakers who called for Zephyr to face disciplinary action deemed the comment as “hateful rhetoric”. The group also referred to Zephyr using male pronouns, despite her preference to be addressed using female pronouns, in a move known as ‘misgendering’.
Following Zephyr’s silencing during debates, hundreds of protesters gathered at Montana’s Capitol calling for her to be heard. This resulted in police in riot gear forcibly clearing the gallery and Zephyr being banished from the House floor. Her attorneys are requesting a court injunction allowing her return for the remaining days of the legislative session.
Presently, the tension between Zephyr and House Republicans illustrates the increasing rancour in American politics over emotive divisive issues such as rights for the LGBTQ+ community, race-related issues, and firearms. The state’s shift rightwards saw the formation of the Montana Freedom Caucus, a newly influential group consisting of at least 21 of the Legislature’s 102 GOP lawmakers. U.S. Representative Matt Rosendale, a staunch conservative who supported President Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud in 2020, was the driving force behind the creation of the Caucus.
The targeting of Zephyr has raised questions regarding the commitment of Montana’s Republican-majority Legislature to democracy. In response, Tennessee state Representative Justin Pearson recently tweeted, “We will not let our democracy die without fighting for every voice. We are in this fight from Memphis to Montana!” Pearson was briefly expelled and then reinstated as an interim lawmaker after being involved in a protest regarding gun control issues in Tennessee.
