Montana State Lawmaker: Anti-trans Laws Are ‘as Unconstitutional as They Are Cruel’
Being transgender is just part of the American "pursuit of happiness," Zephyr adds
The Democratic Montana state legislator banned from the state house floor for her opposition to anti-transgender legislation in the state is calling on other opponents of these discriminatory laws to join her in fighting back.
Montana Republicans barred state Rep Zooey Zephyr, of Missoula, from the state House floor a week after saying those who voted to support a ban on gender-affirming care would have blood on their hands.
The fallout began April 18, when Zephyr made a reference to the legislature's opening prayer while speaking against what is part of a wave of Republican efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights across the country this year.
“I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,” said Zephyr, the first openly transgender lawmaker in the Big Sky State.
Montana Republican legislators pushed through the ban on gender-affirming care despite the controversy over Zephyr's statements.
And now Zephyr wants opponents to help her fight back against the new law.
“It’s important to note that this bill doesn’t go into effect until October 1. Organize. Do everything in our power to stop this bill,” she said. “There will be court challenges, and ultimately, bills across the country, it will get defeated in these courts.
“We know that these bills are as unconstitutional as they are cruel but I think it does show the way in which the right in our state is beginning to shift,” Zephyr added.
The ability to exist as transgender is a guaranteed American right, she said.
“Being trans means like, it’s like coming home to myself. I am now fully in resonance of my own body. I am able to move forward with the life that would not have been possible prior to transition, a life full of joy, a life where I can for the first time be myself,” she said in an on-camera interview with MSNBC. “And you now have that pursuit of happiness that our country is founded on. I get that now. And that’s what I hope that people understand, when they look at the question of gender affirming care for trans people, for trans youth.”
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