Transgender lawmaker silenced by Montana’s Republican House speaker
HELENA, Mont. — Montana’s House speaker refused Thursday to let a transgender legislator speak about bills on the House floor until she apologizes for saying colleagues would have “blood on their hands” if they supported a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths, the lawmaker said.
Rep. Zooey Zephyr, whom some conservative lawmakers pointedly referred to using male pronouns as they demanded her censure, said she would not apologize, creating a standoff between the first-term state lawmaker and Republican legislative leaders.
Speaker Matt Regier refused to acknowledge Zephyr when she wanted to comment Thursday on a bill that would add a binary definition of gender to state code.
“It is up to me to maintain decorum here on the House floor, to protect the dignity and integrity,” Regier said Thursday. “And any representative that I don’t feel can do that will not be recognized.”
Regier said that his decision came after “multiple discussions” with other lawmakers and that similar problems had previously come up.
Democrats objected to Regier’s decision, but the House Rules Committee and the chamber upheld it on party-line votes.
Lawmakers in several conservative states are continuing to target transgender children with bills that prohibit gender affirming care for young people.
“Hate-filled testimony has no place on the House floor,” Republican Rep. Caleb Hinkle said in a statement. Hinkle is a member of the Montana Freedom Caucus, which had demanded Zephyr’s censure.
Zephyr said she stood by what she had said about the consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youths.
The bill would ban transgender minors in Montana from receiving puberty blockers, hormones or surgical procedures to address gender dysphoria, the clinically significant distress caused when one’s gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. Under the bill, medical professionals who provide such care would lose their licenses for at least a year.
“When there are bills targeting the LGBTQ community, I stand up to defend my community,” Zephyr said. “And I choose my words with clarity and precision, and I spoke to the real harms that these bills bring.”
On Transgender Day of Visibility, people across the country gather for events to build support for transgender rights.
Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has indicated he will sign the bill.
Regier also declined to recognize Zephyr when she rang in Thursday to speak about a bill unrelated to LGBTQ issues that seeks to reimburse hotels that provide shelter to victims of human trafficking.
“The speaker is refusing to allow me to participate in debate until I retract or apologize for my statements made during floor debate,” Zephyr said.
The issue came to a head Tuesday when Zephyr, the first transgender woman in Montana’s Legislature, referenced the floor session’s opening prayer and told lawmakers that if they pass the bill, “I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”
She had made a similar comment in previous debate on the bill.
House Majority Leader Sue Vinton rebuked Zephyr on Tuesday, calling her comments inappropriate, disrespectful and uncalled for.
Just hours after a Montana judge blocked health officials from enforcing a state rule that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate, the state said it would defy the order.
Later, the right-flank Montana Freedom Caucus issued its censure demand in a letter that called for a “commitment to civil discourse,” misgendering Zephyr in the same sentence. The caucus also misgendered her in a tweet when it posted the letter online.
“It is disheartening that the Montana Freedom Caucus would stoop so low as to misgender me in their letter, further demonstrating their disregard for the dignity and humanity of transgender individuals,” she said in a statement Wednesday.
Zephyr also spoke emotionally in February, addressing transgender Montanans as she opposed a bill to ban minors from drag shows. “I have one request for you: Please stay alive,” she said then, promising that she and others would keep fighting and challenge such bills in court.
The Legislature has also passed a bill that says a student misgendering or deadnaming a fellow student is not illegal discrimination unless it rises to the level of bullying. Deadnaming is calling a transgender person by their previous name when they have changed their name as part of their gender transition.
At the end of Thursday’s House session, Democratic Rep. Marilyn Marler asked that the House majority allow Zephyr to speak on the floor going forward.
“This body is denying the representative ... the chance to do her job,” Marler said.
Majority Leader Vinton, before moving for adjournment, said: “I will let the body know that the representative ... has every opportunity to rectify the situation.”
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