HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana Republican leaders will vote Wednesday on censuring or expelling lawmaker Zooey Zephyr, a transgender state representative who’s been silenced on the state House floor since last week after telling colleagues they would “have blood on their hands” over their votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender children.
Zephyr’s supporters disrupted Monday’s House session and 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.”
The move to discipline Zephyr is the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmaker from Missoula speak unless she apologizes for her remarks last week on the proposed ban. Conservative Republicans have repeatedly misgendered Zephyr since the remarks by using incorrect pronouns to describe her.
Much like events in the Tennessee Statehouse weeks ago — where state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two Black lawmakers, were expelled after participating in a post-school shooting gun control protest that interrupted proceedings — Zephyr’s punishment has ignited a firestorm of debate about governance and who has a voice in democracy in politically polarizing times.
If lawmakers vote to censure Zephyr, she would stay in the House but could still be blocked from future attempts to speak on the chamber floor over her earlier comments.
Montana’s House speaker canceled Tuesday’s floor session without explanation.
“Republicans are doubling down on their agenda of running roughshod over Montanans’ rights — to free expression, to peaceful protest, to equal justice under the law,” House Minority Leader Kim Abbott said of the plan to discipline Zephyr.
