Montana lawmakers voted Wednesday to censure Democratic state Rep. Zooey Zephyr after she spoke out against proposed legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
Zephyr, who is one of the state’s first transgender lawmakers, will be barred from the floor for the remainder of the legislative session.
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The decision to formally disapprove of her passed on a party-line vote in the Republican-controlled House. Republicans had barred Zephyr from speaking on the House floor for the past week after her comments about the anti-trans bill.
“If you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,” Zephyr said last week during a hearing.
Republicans took immediate offense. “I will note that it is entirely inappropriate, disrespectful and uncalled for. We can debate matters civilly and with respect for each other,” House Majority Leader Sue Vinton (R) said in response.
Twenty-one Republican legislators sent out a press release calling for Zephyr to be censured. They also purposefully misgendered her. But House Speaker Matt Regier (R) didn’t call a vote to censure, instead refusing to recognize Zephyr on the floor, essentially silencing her.
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Zephyr’s punishment comes just weeks after Tennessee Republicans retaliated against Democrats for breaking the rules at the state capitol. Tennessee state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson led protests against gun violence on the House floor after the GOP declined to take action in the wake of a mass shooting at a Nashville school that left six people, including three children, dead. After the legislative body voted to expel the two Black lawmakers, both men were quickly reinstalled into their seats.
Protesters also showed up at the capitol in Montana. On Monday, demonstrators demanded that Zephyr be allowed to speak. Chants of “Let her speak!” rang out on the floor before riot police showed up to end the demonstration. Seven people were arrested.
The proposed Montana legislation is part of a larger pattern. Hundreds of anti-trans bills have been introduced in GOP-controlled states as Republicans have focused on banning transgender children from playing sports at school and accessing gender-affirming health care.
In Kansas, Republicans passed a bill prohibiting transgender students from playing sports, and advocates are worried that children will have to undergo genital inspections in order to participate. In Missouri, Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced a new set of rules that ban gender-affirming care for all ages starting this week.
CORRECTION: A previous headline for this story incorrectly stated that Zooey Zephyr was the only transgender state lawmaker in Montana.
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