Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr
First term Democratic state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender woman, was not expelled by her colleagues in the Montana House of Representatives today (Wednesday, April 26). But House members did vote to punish her by banning her not just from speaking during House sessions — she hasn’t been allowed to speak on the floor of the House since Thursday, April 20 — but also banning her from the chamber completely, forcing her to vote remotely during the remaining days of the session.
The public gallery was closed during today’s proceedings.
“If you use decorum to silence people who hold you accountable, all you are doing is using decorum as a tool of oppression,” Zephyr said during today’s debate.
Montana’s House Minority Leader Kim Abbott says her caucus will hold Republicans accountable for their “anti-democratic agenda.”
What was it she did that so totally ruffled Republican feathers and offended their sense of decorum? She told them the truth: She told the Republicans supporting a bill to ban gender-affirming care for trans minors that they would have “blood on their hands.” Republicans, who hold a more than 2/3 majority of the House, voted to not allow the duly-elected state rep to speak during House sessions unless she apologized. Zephyr refused to apologize, saying she stands by her statement.
In addition to refusing to allow Zephyr to speak, a number of Republican lawmakers deliberately misgendered her throughout last week.
Police arrested about six people Monday, April 24, after protesters supporting Zephyr crowded into the gallery, demanding she be allowed to speak.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana this afternoon issued a statement condemning the vote to silence Zephyr, thus “denying her constituents adequate representation in state government.”
The ACLU press release said today’s vote “unfairly targeted Rep. Zephyr for voicing her objection to proposed House bills aimed at restricting the rights of transgender youth and their families to access gender-affirming health care. The ACLU, the ACLU of Montana, and Lambda Legal have promised to challenge any such ban in court should it become law.”
Keegan Medrano, policy director for ACLU of Montana, said, “This is an anti-democratic effort by House leadership to censor one of their own colleagues for using her voice and platform to represent her constituents. Rep. Zephyr is a duly-elected member of the legislature and entitled to represent the people of their district.
“In voting to take away her microphone, the House is attempting to silence Montanans and trans people from speaking to the harm of all these bills,” Medrano continued. “This is another shameful day in our state’s history, and we’re determined to protect every transgender Montanans from these vile, bigoted attacks on their dignity and equality.”
Deirdre Schifeling, the ACLU’s national political director, added, “There is a name for when elected officials attack and silence other elected officials they don’t agree with to prevent them from fulfilling their duties. It’s called authoritarianism. Freedom of speech is essential to our democracy. Trans people are an essential part of our democracy — both as voters and lawmakers — and must be defended.”
— Tammye Nash
