Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr is suing the state, as well as the Montana House Speaker and Sergeant at Arms, after being censured by House Republicans. Zephhyr, a biological male who is transgender, was censured after speaking out against a gender-affirming care ban for transgender youth. She said that legislators would have “blood on your hands” if they passed the bill and these comments were deemed to break House rules of decorum. Protestors then disrupted House proceedings for several days to protest the action taken against Zephyr. Zephyr encouraged the protests by refusing to leave the House floor and holding up her microphone. This lead to a complete censure from Republicans.
On Monday, Zephyr wrote on Twitter, “The recent actions violate my 1st amendment rights, as well as the rights of my 11,000 constituents to representation. Montana’s State House is the people’s House, not Speaker Regier’s, and I’m determined to defend the right of the people to have their voices heard.”
Zephyr told ABC News last week, “The Republicans have used an undemocratic move to remove the ability for me to represent my constituents on the floor. But as I work to resolve that, I need to be as close as possible, so I can have the conversations with legislators and make sure that I can, at least in some way, make sure the voice of my constituents can be can be discussed.”
House Speaker Matt Regier responded to Zephyr’s claims, saying, “All representatives are free to participate in House debate while following the House rules. The choice to not follow House rules is one that Representative Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Representative Zephyr is Representative Zephyr.”
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen will represent the state against the lawsuit and has labeled it as as “political activism masquerading as a lawsuit.”
