Zooey Zephyr, the first openly transgender person to be elected to the state legislature in Montana, is being silenced in by the Montana Republican Party for speaking the truth, which is that gender-affirming medical care is a matter of life or death for trans youth. She’s a total badass.
On Tuesday as the House was debating Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s proposed amendments to a measure banning gender-affirming care for minors, Zephyr spoke up in reference to the body’s opening prayer.
“I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,” she said.
House Majority Leader Sue Vinton, a Republican, immediately called Zephyr’s comments inappropriate and disrespectful. That evening, a group of conservative lawmakers known as the Montana Freedom Caucus demanded her censure and deliberately referred to Zephyr using male pronouns in their letter and a Tweet. That’s known as misgendering — using pronouns that don’t match a person’s gender identity.
Zephyr had upset legislative leaders with emotional testimony previously this session.
She made a similar “blood on your hands” comment the first time the House heard the bill and has also given emotional testimony indicating bills that attack LGBTQ+ rights will lead to suicide.
“When there are bills targeting the LGBTQ community, I stand up to defend my community,” Zephyr told The Associated Press after she was silenced Thursday. “And I choose my words with clarity and precision, and I spoke to the real harms that these bills bring.”
Medical experts agree that gender affirming care saves lives. This has been backed up by the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association.
Notice how her colleagues call for civility while misgendering Zooey:
Our Caucus is calling for the immediate censure of transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr after his threatening and deeply concerning comments on the House floor earlier today. #mtpol pic.twitter.com/fDggbLKsJS
— Montana Freedom Caucus (@MTFreedomCaucus) April 19, 2023
On the one hand, the GOP doesn’t give a damn if trans kids kill themselves. On the other hand, someone hurt their feelings by saying that out loud. Both sides, right?
It is exhausting how the GOP continues to simply lie about the extensive research that has been done in regards to trans healthcare, and act like their actions are moral or rational. This takedown by Jon Stewart of Leslie Rutledge, the Arkansas Attorney General, remains one of the best I’ve seen if you haven’t had a chance to watch it.
Jon interviewed Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas Attorney General, about why her state banned gender-affirming care for minors – ignoring the guidelines of major medical organizations and taking the decision out of parents’ hands. Watch the full interview on @AppleTVPlus pic.twitter.com/4SoH3orWa6
— The Problem With Jon Stewart (@TheProblem) October 7, 2022
karen marie
Mr. Sue Vinton sure has his panties in a bunch.
Baron Elmo
Bless you, Jon Stewart. On this topic (and so many others), you’re an island of sanity in a sea of assholes.
Baud
This is so remarkable. In Montana!
Princess
There is and will be blood on their hands. It’s a simple statement of fact — people will die. They don’t care, even if it is their own kids. Good for her. She’s going to have an impact whether they “let” her speak or not but it’s disgusting they put her through this.
Cameron
The Montana Freedom Caucus? Certainly nothing calls up the word “freedom” to mind faster than a taste for crushing the rights of people who one doesn’t like/is afraid of/doesn’t understand.
Ruckus
@Cameron:
Freedom from freedom is still freedom isn’t it?
Yes this is an asinine question but then we are discussing staunch conservatives……
Baud
@Ruckus:
Freedom from freedom leaves … nothing.
Matt McIrvin
@Ruckus: If we start with Joplin’s Postulate that freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose, and apply Preston’s Lemma that nothing from nothing leaves nothing, we can derive your proposition.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Mr Kristofferson said, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”
planet eddie
@Princess: I think this gets back to the thing you commented about in the last thread — if another colleague has said this, I think the reps wouldn’t have reacted so extremely, part of the fury is that it’s being said by a trans person. We saw the same thing with Justin Jones and Justin Pearson in Tennesee, two black men, being thrown out, but Gloria Johnson being allowed to stay: certain voices inflame the other side more than others.
Nora
At what point does silencing a particular representative mean silencing the people she represents? And at what point is that a violation of the constitution re: republican form of government? I think we need to start making that argument strongly.
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
Exactly.
We have reached the point in this 200+ yr story we call a nation that will have to go through some things to be the country that so many of us want, that many of the original founders wanted and for which the die hard conservatives think (such as it is) that is them losing power rather than everyone including them having much better power. We see this as building a better nation, they see it as losing power. Which is exactly what it is, building a better nation by conservatives losing power and people gaining same. Personal autonomy within guidelines that protect those that need it and freedom to be an actual individual. This is in direct opposition to what todays, and yesterdays conservatives want. There will always be limits to how far an individual can go but there will also have to be limits to how far any governmental agency can go. Yes some individuals will go to far, just like they already do. And this may be one of the first actual democracies but we have a bit of experience seeing what really doesn’t work.
Benw
Everything about this artificial bullshit “trans panic” is infuriating. Good for her, she’s right that they’re killing the kids they want to kill – the kids who need medical gender affirming care.
RepubAnon
Funny how letting children work in hazardous industries is something the parents and kids can decide themselves – but personal medical decisions must be mandated by the state:
CarolPW
@Omnes Omnibus: “When you have nothing it’s almost like having it all” Todd Snider
Suzanne
I deeply enjoyed watching Jon Stewart hand that woman her own ass on a platter.
As someone who was deeply fortunate to be able to access gender-affirming transition care for her kid — and it was still a pain in the ass, I will note — I find it exhausting trying to discuss these issues. There’s no reason to oppose it apart from bigotry. I am aware of the horrible laws being passed in the shithole states, and I am just emotionally tired. I don’t have anything left to offer besides, “That’s terrible, social conservatives are hypocrites and awful people, let’s move LGBT people out of the shithole states”.
Yesterday, I took SuzMom to get her Covid booster. While we were waiting at the pharmacy, some old Boomer asshole dude came up to the counter and started complaining loudly about Biden and inflation being at TEN PERCENT!!! and talking about how nothing was bad under TFG. The poor pharmacy tech looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole. SuzMom and I just listened to the dude and gave each other pointed looks. And I realized that I would absolutely rather rub shit in my hair than have any interaction with that fucker. I have no desire to argue with him, even though I could. I don’t want to even exchange pleasantries about the weather. I just want to be free of these people.
Soprano2
The MO attorney General says “hold my beer”. He’s proposed rules to govern transgender care for adults as well as minors. There was an article in our paper today about three Trans adults in Springfield who are planning to move to Illinois because of it. I’ve got an employee who says they may have to move if it actually goes into effect. I’m sure there will be lawsuits but who knows what will happen in this atmosphere.
Almost Retired
@Baud: That was my thought. She was elected in Montana? But evidently, each district has only about 11,000 people (she’s in District 100), and she’s from the college town of Missoula where the sheep are generally safe. An itty bitty blue microdot in a red and getting redder state.
Dan B
I wonder how many of these bigoted creeps have kids and/or grandchildren that are declaring themselves or their friends to be not heterosexual. And will these young people leave the state as soon as possible? That was my reaction to Ohio.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Nora:
Just be aware they will throw the same argument back at us because these nutjobs are representing their nutjob constituents. That’s why they keep getting re-elected.
karen marie
@RepubAnon: I’m going to guess that wealthy Republicans aren’t going to be telling their children to work the overnight shift in a meat processing plant if they want the new iPhone or a full stomach.
Suzanne
@Dan B:
So this is an interesting point. I was reading about the old man in Kansas City who apparently became radicalized by Fox News and then shot Ralph Yarl. One person who commented to the media was his grandson, who is apparently pretty liberal. The grandson said that the old man had been getting more and more sucked into Fox News paranoia in recent years, to the point that the grandson became estranged from him. The grandson said he was shocked but not surprised by the shooting.
I do think that, yes, many young people — especially the ones with better life prospects — will leave. Honestly, they already are. The dysfunction in lots of these places is by no means limited to homophobia/transphobia. But even if there is not a physical move, there are family estrangements happening, too.
One point going around on social media about student loan forgiveness was that it would be a huge help to the LGBT community, because that’s how lots of LGBT youth leave their shitty homophobic hometowns and get to more accepting places with communities that are welcoming to them.
Mike in NC
Well it’s obvious that every state needs its very own Freedumb Caucus to represent their busybody wingnut assholes.
lowtechcyclist
@Omnes Omnibus:
I remembered incorrectly, I thought it was Gordon Lightfoot. (Usually if you’re wondering whether artist A or B wrote a song both of them recorded, and Gord’s one of them, he’s the writer. Not this time.)
Looking it up, I was surprised to find that Roger Miller, of all people, was the first one to record it.
Suzanne
So one of my neighbors is flying a flag that reads “TRUMP FOR PRISON”. LMMFAO.
Suzanne
@lowtechcyclist: Did you watch the documentary about Gordon Lightfoot “If You Could Read My Mind”? It was on Netflix, I think? So good.
Matt McIrvin
@Suzanne: I know a lot of young people who are either leaving the United States entirely or giving serious consideration to it. We could end up with some terrible brain drain and a country inhabited by a decaying remnant of heavily armed killer octogenarians.
AlaskaReader
When Republicans mention freedom,
..they are only expressing the desire for the freedom to erase yours.
Every single one of them needs to be removed from our government.
Every single one. There is no redeeming value in a Republican.
lowtechcyclist
@RepubAnon:
Either one would be infuriating by itself, but the juxtaposition is mindboggling.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: I have always been someone who preferred city living — I always struggled with Phoenix’s sprawl — but all these crazy armed right-wing fuckers makes me seriously consider moving somewhere really remote. Like one of the Atlantic provinces in Canada, to a pretty remote area.
One of the crazy armed right-wing fuckers was the man who lived two doors down the street whose house burned down. They were going to fix the house, but then he died, and apparently the remaining family are now trying to sell it, and they are delusional. He was stockpiling ammunition. Dude couldn’t see straight, or climb three stairs, but he had an arsenal. GREAT IDEA, Y’ALL.
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
No, wasn’t aware of it. Thanks for mentioning it, I’ll have to track it down!
Dan B
@Suzanne: I believe that if the discrimination is happening directly to you or your friends then you’re more likely to break with bigoted family members. It happened to me with my partner’s brother and sister in law. My partner’s not seeing them much either.
When I first moved to Seattle in the early 70’s most of my LGBT friends were estranged from family. We had “chosen family”. That has changed.
Suzanne
@Dan B: Anecdotally, I am seeing more estrangements and just “low contact” even among people who aren’t necessarily LGBT themselves, but just find some of their family toxic and unsupportive. Like, if my grandfather was still alive, he would really struggle with his grandkids. Two are in interracial marriages, one doesn’t have (or want) children, one married an undocumented immigrant. None of the girls became SAHMs, they all went and got educated. All of that would have been really hard for him to witness. I think a lot of families are like that…..homophobia being just one of the many bullshit bigotries the social conservatives wield.
Dan B
@Suzanne: My grandparents were born in the 1870’s and all passed away when I was a teenager, or earlier. My father’s upbringing was rather Victorian so he struggled with my homosexuality. My friends liked him so that helped a great deal. And my parents moved into my house in Seattle so they got to see a lot of my friends.
karen marie
@Matt McIrvin: A couple years ago I read something that talked about the decrease in violent crime after the change from leaded to unleaded gas. What was remarked on was that the decrease didn’t occur in older populations who had absorbed large amounts of lead from childhood into adulthood, and thus the crime rate remained high among older adults.
Could it explain at least in part the rabidness of older Republicans?
During my musing about that, I found this:
The only surprise to me is that someone pointed it out.
VOR
Bullies going to bully, I guess. I bet the GOP screams about “cancel culture” don’t matter when it’s them doing the canceling.
Suzanne
@VOR:
Of course not. It’s all will-to-power shit, and status seeking.
They love canceling.
Another Scott
@karen marie: Kevin Drum had a couple of really good popular pieces on lead a few years ago. It really does seem to explain a lot.
Cheers,
Scott.
prostratedragon
Also from that WaPo article:
So in addition to the sense that when certain people speak forthrightly they are being insupportably disrespectful, which planet eddie rightly points out, they also are getting in the way of the larger plan. Of course, by trying to silence Ms. Zephyr they only draw more attention to what they are doing wth these laws, as with the Tennessee state reps. But then these are not very bright guys, …
Ruckus
@Dan B:
“Chosen family.” Yep been there, done that. Sometimes sanity requires that you choose your family. Sometimes it requires that you don’t let them choose you.
@Suzanne:
I think this is more common than many people think.
HinTN
@Matt McIrvin:
Now that’s a rotating tag if I ever saw one.
karen marie
@Another Scott: I’d never seen abortion included in any statistical information regarding violence reduction. As I said, it didn’t surprise me except for it being mentioned. I think it’s something that should be known more widely given the escalation of the Republican War On Women.
Suzanne
@Ruckus: I think it’s really common, actually.
karen marie
@HinTN: I hope you submitted it. If not, I will.
Ksmiami
@Suzanne: I hope their own stupidity and high level of accidental gun mishaps does their side in. No I’m not nice anymore.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
I agree.
HinTN
@karen marie: please do – I’m happily in the legion of ignorati when it comes to all internet traditions.
LiminalOwl
@Baud: Rotating tag?
TriassicSands
Zooey Zephyr: Yes, you are standing up for your community, but as a straight, white male, I think you are also standing up for humanity and valuing all human beings. I consider you to be an inseparable part of my group — kind, decent human beings — and I support all your efforts to oppose the neo-fascist bigotry of the Republican Party.
Once again, we’re seeing tactics that were used in the thirties when the Nazis took over Germany. Identify vulnerable groups and target them with cruelty and unjust laws. Use fear and violence to both convince ignorant Americans to join the neo-fascists and, if possible, inflict actual physical harm on those identified as “other.”
This can’t be your fight alone. We need each other.
TheMightyTrowel
@Matt McIrvin: in 2002 when it became clear Bush 2 was sending us to war for oil and sending a bunch of my friends to die, I started making plans to leave. I moved to Europe in 2005 after I graduated uni and now I’m in Australia – never looked back. My parents are sad I live so far away, but my dad tells me at least once during every phone call that he’s glad I don’t live in the US anymore and I’m in a country without freely available guns. Makes me really sad.
TriassicSands
@TheMightyTrowel:
I understand your feelings, but we need every vote. If you’re still voting in the US as an ex-pat, great. But, if not…
TriassicSands
@Baud:
There will always be people whose elections are surprising. Gerrymandering can ensure that there are big surprises. By concentrating Democratic votes into one or a small number of districts, the fascists get what they want — legislative dominance coupled with sometimes surprising opposition party winners. it’s not really that surprising.
Tony G
My very obvious opinion about the right-wing’s recent war on transgender people … The right needs to have a group of people to hate. Hatred is literally all that they have to offer. Obvious racism is less socially acceptable than it was 60 years ago. Obvious hatred of gays and lesbians is less socially acceptable than it was 20 years ago. So … the new enemy to hate is transgender people. If, hopefully soon, it becomes socially unacceptable to hate transgender people then the right will have to find a new group to hate. But hatred of some despised group is necessary, because hatred is their whole ideology.
ExpatchadPutin has become Stalin, the destroyer of worlds
@TheMightyTrowel: The Lesser Bush likewise propelled me to The Philippine Republic, where I remain happily ensconced deBushed, gunless.
Ohio Mom
@Another Scott: I was going to cite Kevin Drum but you beat me to it.
As I recall though, he talks mainly about crime rates, especially among young men. I don’t remember Drum making a connection between blood lead levels and angry old Fox viewers — maybe he does and I forgot.
AlaskaReader
@Ohio Mom: There’s all that lead paint and mercury in fillings, just to name a couple more indicators.
Citizen Alan
@ExpatchadPutin has become Stalin, the destroyer of worlds:
If both my mother and father had been deceased in 2004, I would be a Canadian citizen today. It took a lot of guilt-tripping on the part of my mom to get me to promise I wouldn’t leave Mississippi while they were alive.
Don
In the South, we have a saying. “Lady, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
Paul in KY
@lowtechcyclist: Roger always knew a great song when he heard it.
Paul in KY
@Matt McIrvin: There might be a movie there….
Paul in KY
@Tony G: Fascism is like that. Need a group of ‘others’ to rally the obermenchen against.
UncleEbeneezer
@Tony G: They also really believe strongly in the Gender Binary and traditional gender roles, which also explains their Sexism and Homophobia. Combine the relatively small and already marginalized size of Trans population with that, and of course the fact that Conservatives are kinda dumb and don’t really understand the complexity of biology/Gender and sadly that makes a perfect storm for lashing out at Tran/NB people etc. They have always been absolutely obsessed with policing gender expression/identity so unfortunately progress on Trans Rights was always likely to generate pretty ridiculous freak outs on their part.
UncleEbeneezer
I was a bit saddened by how little attention Zephyr’s situation got compared to the Reps in Tennessee in my social/political circle. Thanks for this post, sorry I am so late to arrive.