Republicans in the Montana state House voted on Wednesday to censure Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, an openly transgender lawmaker who urged her colleagues to oppose a gender-affirming care ban for transgender youth.
The House voted strictly along party lines, 68-32, to censure Zephyr, The Hill reported.
Zephyr, who has been unable to speak on a bill for more than a week, is now barred from the House floor, anteroom and gallery for the rest of the session. She will be allowed to vote remotely.
“As I left the House chambers, I pressed my light to speak—a reminder that this legislature is removing 11,000 Montanans from discussion on every bill going forward,” Zephyr tweeted. “I will always stand on behalf of my constituents, my community, and democracy itself.”
This drastic move comes after Zephyr told Republicans that they would have “blood on their hands” during debate on a bill which would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Her plea landed on deaf ears as Republicans still passed the legislation that is now awaiting the signature of Gov. Greg Gianforte (R).
Rep. Sue Vinton (R), who sponsored the motion to censure Zephyr said her conduct “cannot be allowed to stand.”
Before Wednesday’s vote, Zephyr defended herself.
“I rose up in defense of my community that day, speaking to harms that these bills bring that I have firsthand experience knowing about. I have had friends who have taken their lives because of these bills. I have fielded calls from families in Montana, including one family whose trans teenager attempted to take her life while watching a hearing on one of the anti trans bills,” she said on the House floor.
“When the speaker asks me to apologize on behalf of decorum, what he’s really asking me to do is be silent, when my community is facing bills that get us killed,”she continued. “He’s asking me to be complicit in this legislature’s eradication of our community, and I refuse to do so. I will always refuse to do so,” she added.
