Zooey Zephyr says censure was ‘attack on the very first principles of our country’

Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), whose censure from the state’s Legislature made national headlines, blasted Republicans who voted to ban her from the chamber, saying it is “an attack on democracy.”

“When the speaker refused to recognize me, he took away not only my right as a legislator to partake in speech and debate on the floor, but also the voice of the people who elected me,” Zephyr said in an interview with Time, released on Tuesday. “And that is an attack on the very first principles of our country.”

Zephyr, one of the state’s first openly transgender lawmakers, was banned from the House floor for the rest of the 2023 legislative session and is unable to participate in debate. Her censure and ban were precipitated by her criticism of Republicans in the state who voted to pass a bill to prohibit gender-affirming care for transgender minors, telling them they would have “blood on your hands.”

The bill was signed by the state’s GOP governor earlier this month.

Zephyr filed an emergency lawsuit against the decision of the Republicans who barred her from the state legislature, asking a court to allow her to return to the chamber. A state judge on Tuesday decided against Zephyr.

Zephyr argued that lawmakers in the Montana legislature were operating from a lack of understanding when voting for the bill that would ban gender-affirming care, and teed off on the immense pressures in the Republican party to hold a hardline stance on transgender issues.

“You have people who don’t understand what it means to be trans, who don’t understand the need for this health care or the joy that comes when trans people get to live our lives,” Zephyr said. “Those who may be open to it, there is a sense that they are afraid of being exiled from their party, afraid of being primaried, afraid that their legislation will go nowhere if they stand up in defense of someone like me.”

Zephyr said she expects the bill she was protesting to face legal actions before it goes into effect in October.

“I anticipate that there will be lawsuits before then,” Zephyr said. “My expectation is that this law, which we know is cruel and gets trans kids killed, is unconstitutional.”