Republican lawmakers in Montana probably thought they were pretty slick when crafting their punishment against state Rep. Zooey Zephyr last week. In a better world, hers would have been one of the most critical voices in the state House’s debate of SB 99, a bill that bars gender-affirming health care for transgender minors. As the first trans Montanan elected to that legislative body, she knows better than any of the other members the ways that the bill would harm the people it was targeting in the name of protecting them.
The Montana state House has bullied a minority member of the minority for trying to prevent a law that would hurt her community.
Instead, Zephyr was silenced during deliberations over the bill, which was signed into law last week. Her offense? Saying that the bill’s backers would have “blood on their hands” — a reference to the documented link between access to gender-affirming care and lower suicide rates — and showing support for protesters who demanded she be allowed to speak. For the crime of accurately framing the bill’s terrible consequences, the House passed a resolution to keep Zephyr from debating any bill for the rest of the legislative session. An emergency lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of her and her constituents hopes to overturn that decision. But though I agree with the lawsuit itself and the points it makes about the deliberate targeting of Zephyr as a trans woman, I can’t say I’m hopeful that a judge will concur.
Crucially, the resolution punishing Zephyr determined that she “will no longer be admitted to this Floor, House anteroom, or House gallery” for the remainder of the session. That might seem like a long time, but it isn’t — and that’s part of why Zephyr’s punishment is so subtly cruel. Montana’s part-time Legislature works for only 90 days in odd-numbered years. The current session is scheduled to end this Friday, May 5, meaning that even though Zephyr’s term doesn’t expire until…
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