Montana transgender lawmaker barred by GOP from 2023 session
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr was barred from participating on the House floor as Republican leaders voted Wednesday to silence her for the rest of 2023 session after she protested GOP leaders’ decision earlier in the week to silence her.
The punishment of the freshman lawmaker caps a weeklong standoff between House Democrats and Republicans after Zephyr told colleagues last week, you will “see the blood on your hands” over votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for children.
Zephyr will still be able to vote remotely under terms of the punishment.
In a defiant speech Wednesday she gave before her colleagues voted, Zephyr addressed House Speaker Matt Regier directly and said she was taking a stand for the LGBTQ+ community, her constituents in Missoula and “democracy itself.”
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She accused him of taking away the voices of her 11,000 constituents and attempting to drive “a nail in the coffin of democracy” by silencing her.
“If you use decorum to silence people who hold you accountable, then all you’re doing is using decorum as a tool of oppression,” Zephyr said.
The House Speaker had previously said he would not allow her to speak until she apologized, which Zephyr refused to do.
For the past week, Zephyr has been forbidden from speaking on the House floor.
A protest against lawmakers silencing Zephyr disrupted Monday’s House session. Authorities arrested seven people in a confrontation that Republicans claim Zephyr had encouraged. The first-term Democrat received notice from House leaders Tuesday night informing her of the plan to consider disciplinary action against her, according to a letter she posted on social media.
“I’ve also been told I’ll get a chance to speak,” Zephyr tweeted. “I will do as I have always done — rise on behalf of my constituents, in defense of my community and for democracy itself.”
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