Zooey Zephyr: Supporters of Anti-LGBTQ Bills ‘Want to See Us Removed from Public Life’
LGBTQ Americans need their allies to take a stand, Montana Democrat adds
Those Republican politicians and others who support laws restricting the rights of the LGBTQ community “want to see us removed from public life,” according to the first openly transgender state lawmaker in Montana.
Republicans in states in which they hold a trifecta of government control — both houses of the state legislature and the governorship — have been pursuing increasingly aggressive laws aimed at limiting, if not completely eliminating the rights of transgender and other LGBTQ Americans.
That includes, recently, Montana, where state Republicans approved legislation which prohibits gender-affirming medical and surgical care for transgender minors.
Democratic state Rep Zooey Zephyr, of Missoula, was banned from the Montana state house chamber after she spoke out and opposed the bill, catapulting her to national prominence.
“As a legislator, one of the things I think about is, when these bills come forward, they get talked about as if they’re very narrow. This is just about sports. This is just about health care for a certain age group. But what we see in moments like this is that the people who support anti-LGBTQ bills, they are not content with a single piece of policy,” Zephyr said. “They want to see us removed from all stores, they want to see us removed from public life. To me, that’s why it’s so important in this moment we fight back and that our allies, both individuals and corporations, are willing to stand alongside us.”
And anti-LGBTQ legislation is harmful to children even in cases when it doesn't actually become law, Zephyr said during an on-camera appearance on CNN.
“Yeah, the harm comes immediately even when these discussions are brought up. We know in Montana that there was a trans teen who attempted suicide while watching one of the hearings,” she said. “That’s how her mother found her, with the hearing up on the TV. This is the kind of risk that comes just from the discussion of these bills.
“And then as they get passed and enacted, it becomes harder and harder because these bills themselves create conditions where having a joyful, meaningful life becomes very difficult for trans people and LGBTQ people,” she added.
Trans and other LGBTQ Americans need cisgender and heterosexual allies to step up their support, Zephyr said.
“It means being unafraid to stand up in the rooms that you are in. I’m in the legislature doing my best to stop harmful policy, to move the needle with my colleagues. But that’s just one room,” she said. “Whatever room you’re in, whether it’s a newsroom, whether it’s an office space, a PTA or an awkward family dinner conversation, have the courage to stand up because right now LGBTQ people need that support.”
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