Representative Zooey Zephyr took to the floor of the Montana Legislature on Tuesday to make an impassioned plea for her colleagues to reject a bill that would ban transition care for transgender minors, saying that denying such care would be \u201ctantamount to torture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis body should be ashamed,\u201d Ms. Zephyr, a first-term Democrat and the Legislature\u2019s first transgender member, said. \u201cIf you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments I hope the next time there\u2019s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, responded by accusing Ms. Zephyr in a letter of \u201cattempting to shame the legislative body\u201d by using \u201chateful rhetoric.\u201d The letter, which misgendered Ms. Zephyr, called for her to be censured.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, however, the House adjourned without taking that step. It was unclear if they planned to take up the matter on Friday.<\/p>\n
But before adjourning, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill that would define sex as binary depending on whether a person produces eggs or sperm, and would apply those definitions to 40 sections of state law. The Speaker of the House, Matt Regier, refused to acknowledge Ms. Zephyr during the debate on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The bill was approved near the end of a week in which the state\u2019s House and Senate passed several measures targeting transgender people. On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, asked lawmakers to \u201cstrengthen\u201d the legislation banning what doctors call gender-affirming care for minors with a series of amendments, according to the Montana Free Press. In the letter, Mr. Gianforte said that gender-affirming care was a misleading term and compared it to \u201cOrwellian Newspeak.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the State House floor on Tuesday, Ms. Zephyr said the effort to \u201cdefine male and female as binary\u201d was harmful.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could not legislate binary sex any less than you can legislate that the Earth is flat,\u201d she said. \u201cIntersex people exist, trans people exist, and this bill doesn\u2019t change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Representative Sue Vinton, a Republican and the majority leader, stood in objection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not be shamed by anyone in this chamber,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The amended bill, which would ban hormone treatments and surgical care for transgender minors under the age of 18, passed with overwhelming support in the Republican-led House. Mr. Gianforte is expected to sign it into law.<\/p>\n
Montana is the latest state with a Republican-controlled legislature to pass bills prohibiting gender-affirming care for young people. The laws ban or significantly limit the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and transition surgery for people under 18. Indiana and Idaho passed similar bans earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Republicans in Tennessee ousted two Democratic state lawmakers over a gun control protest. Both have since been returned to their seats on a temporary basis ahead of special elections later this year.<\/p>\n
By the time Ms. Zephyr spoke on Tuesday, the Montana Legislature had either considered or approved four pieces of legislation targeting transgender people on that day alone, she said, including a parental rights bill, an amendment to an online privacy bill that would prohibit the distribution of drag shows online and an education bill requiring written consent from parents for a child\u2019s preferred names or pronouns to be used in the classroom but does not require teachers to use them.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, before the House approved the bill to create a binary definition of sex as male or female, Ms. Zephyr said the measure \u201cwould write me out of code.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview on Thursday, Ms. Zephyr said she knew there would be anti-transgender legislation in Montana. But she said she had hoped that \u201cthe bulk of the time would be spent on serious issues facing Montanans,\u201d adding that the housing crisis in her district in Missoula was a top priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are each elected in the moment of history that we\u2019re a part of,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Republican Party has made this moment about attacking trans people across the country who are trying to live their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
To fellow transgender people in Montana, Ms. Zephyr said the fight for equality was far from over.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to win in the end,\u201d she said. \u201cThese bills will go down ultimately in the courts. We will find support in our community and someday legislatures will stop bringing harmful bills like the ones we see. Until that happens, lean on your community and stay alive.\u201d<\/p>\n