HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The speaker of Montana’s House refused to let a transgender lawmaker speak on a bill on Thursday, two days after a conservative group of lawmakers deliberately misrepresented her and called for her to be censored for emotional testimony against a bill to ban gender-affirmation care for transgender youth.
“It’s up to me to maintain the decorum here on the House floor, to protect dignity and integrity,” Republican speaker Matt Regier said. “And any representative that I don’t think can do will not be recognized,”
Regier said his decision came after “multiple discussions” with other lawmakers and that there had been similar issues before.
The Democratic caucus objected, but the House Rules Committee upheld Regier’s decision on a party-line vote. As a result, Rep. Zooey Zephyr declined to speak on Thursday about a measure that would place a binary definition of male and female in the state code.
The issue came to a head when Zephyr, a Democrat and the first transgender woman to hold a position in the Montana legislature, told lawmakers Tuesday that they would have “blood on their hands” if they voted for a bill to eliminate gender equality. affirmative medical care for minors. She had made a similar comment when the bill was first considered in the House.
House Majority Leader Sue Vinton reprimanded Zephyr on Tuesday, calling her comments inappropriate, disrespectful and inappropriate.
Later Tuesday, a small group of conservative Republicans known as the Montana Freedom Caucus made a request for the House to censor Zephyr. Their letter called for a “commitment to civil discourse” in the same sense in which they deliberately misinterpreted Zephyr. The caucus also misused Zephyr in a Tweet while posting the letter online.
“It is disheartening that the Montana Freedom Caucus would sink so low as to misinterpret me in their letter, further demonstrating their disregard for the dignity and humanity of transgender people,” Zephyr said in a statement Wednesday. “Their call for ‘courtesy and respect’ is hypocritical given their actions.”
Zephyr said Wednesday she stood by what she said Tuesday “about the devastating consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youth. The gender-affirming care ban” is part of an alarming trend of anti-trans legislation in our state, including more than a dozen unconstitutional bills. These bills prohibit our art forms, our stories, our health care and our existence in the Montana code.”
She also spoke emotionally and directly to transgender Montanans in February when she opposed a bill to ban minors from attending drag shows.
“I have one request for you: please stay alive,” Zephyr said.
She also assured them that she and others would continue to fight and challenge the bills in court.
The legislature also passed a bill stating that a student misnaming or renaming a fellow student is not unlawful discrimination unless it rises to the level of bullying.
At the end of Thursday’s House session, Democratic Representative Marilyn Marler asked that the House majority allow Zephyr to speak in the future.
“This body is denying the representative … the chance to do her job,” Marler said.
Majority Leader Vinton, before going for suspension, said: “I will let the body know that the representative … has every opportunity to rectify the situation.”
