On Wednesday, Montana house Republicans barred transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from the house floor for the rest of the 2023 session for rebuking other lawmakers and participating in protests after a bill passed banning gender-transition treatments for minors.
The Montana legislature voted last month to send the bill banning medications and surgeries to the governor’s desk.
Zephyr will still be able to vote remotely under the terms of the punishment but is unable to discuss proposals and amendments under consideration with other Montana lawmakers.
“The only thing I will say is 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 as the house considered amendments to the bill proposed by Governor Greg Gianforte. GOP house members stopped Zephyr from speaking on a number of occasions until the lawmaker apologized for the indecorous remarks. Zephyr refused to do so.
Media outlets widely reported that Zephyr was “silenced,” but Republicans countered that they were defending the dignity and integrity of the house, as Speaker Matt Regier put it.
The feud spilled over into this week’s house sessions when Zephyr, not recognized to speak on another transgender proposal, hoisted a microphone in the air and encouraged protesters in the gallery to disrupt proceedings. The protesters chanted: “Whose house? Our house!” Some were then arrested. According to the Associated Press, Zephyr refused a request from the sergeant-at-arms to settle things down and traveled to the county jail to visit some of the protesters who had been arrested. Republicans called the incident a “riot” and an “insurrection.”
After being barred, Zephyr released a statement that cast the events in a different light. According to Zephyr, when Regier was gaveling down the protesters, “what he was really doing was driving a nail into the coffin of democracy.”
Zephyr added: “Though the Republican supermajority has voted to strip me of my ability to partake in debate, I remain steadfast in my commitment to my community.”
Republicans, on the other hand, thought they were in the right. “Freedom in this body involves obedience to all the rules of this body, including the rules of decorum,” house majority leader Sue Vinton said on the floor.
The controversy comes after the Tennessee house voted earlier this month to expel two of three representatives who interrupted proceedings in that chamber with a bullhorn and encouraged protesters in the gallery. Both representatives were sent back to the house after votes from the local bodies where their districts are located. These bodies in Tennessee are allowed to appoint an interim successor to fill the seat of a house member who has been expelled. The appointee may hold that seat until an election is held.
As with the Montana protests, many media outlets claimed that the Tennessee representatives were being silenced. They also repeated speculation that the only reason the third representative hadn’t been expelled was that she was white. GOP representatives in Tennessee clarified that she was the only one of the protesting house members who hadn’t used the bullhorn and she was not expelled for that reason.
Zephyr told the Associated Press: “My community and the Democratic Party in Missoula would send me back here in a heartbeat because I represent them, and I represent their values by standing up for democracy.”
However, Zephyr will have no recourse against the house’s action.