‘TANTAMOUNT TO TORTURE’

Fragile Republicans Want Trans Lawmaker Censured for Fiery Speech

Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr told GOP lawmakers this week that “blood” would be on their hands if they passed a bill banning minors from accessing gender-affirming care.

Montana Republicans have demanded that Rep. Zooey Zephyr—the state’s first and only openly transgender lawmaker—be formally disciplined after she condemned them in an emotional speech on the state House floor this week. As the House debated amendments to a bill that would ban transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming care, Zephyr warned that its passage would leave “blood on [the] hands” of lawmakers who voted for it. “If you are forcing a trans child to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture. This body should be ashamed,” she said. After her remarks, the Montana Freedom Caucus—a body made up of both state House and Senate Republicans—called for Zephyr’s censure. Repeatedly misgendering Zephyr in a statement, the caucus whined that she had tried to shame legislators with “inappropriate and uncalled-for language.”