Montana state Representative Jasmine Krotkov, widely known as Jade Bahr, has been barred from the house floor after giving a speech against anti-trans legislation. She called supporters of the bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors having “blood on your hands” during the speech. The incident highlights how Republican-dominated state legislatures are restricting the hearing of minority Democrats on life-and-death policy debates. The ban means that Bahr can retain her seat and cast votes remotely, but she is unable to participate in debates in this legislative session, which ends this week. Seven protesters were arrested after Bahr’s ban from the house, and her supporters chanted “let her speak.”
The Montana Supreme Court has recently upheld a ban on providing puberty-blocking medication to transgender children, which is the first of its kind in the US. This decision came after the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker, Zooey Zephyr, challenged the law’s constitutionality. However, the court dismissed the challenge, stating that the law did not violate the right to privacy and equal protection under the law. Zephyr’s supporters interrupted business to protest her silencing after House Speaker Matt Regier prevented her from working outside the main chamber of the House, criticizing her for violating House decorum and warning that she would lose her microphone privileges. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen called Zephyr’s lawsuit “nothing more than an attempt by outside groups to interfere with Montana’s lawmaking process.”
Meanwhile, Montana state lawmaker Rep. Zooey Zephyr has been censured by her Republican colleagues and barred from committees and governing activities for attending a trans awareness event. Her treatment is similar to that of Tennessee state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who were recently expelled from their legislature for supporting constituents protesting gun violence inside the House chamber. An Oklahoma nonbinary Democratic lawmaker was also recently censured by Republican colleagues. All of these incidents have raised concerns over First Amendment rights and the potential abuse of a supermajority, under which a two-thirds majority have the ability to silence any member.
Some fourteen Republican-controlled states have approved anti-trans legislation so far this year. Transgender lawmaker Representative Zephyr has been barred from participating in debates by a Montana House judge after attorneys for the State of Montana sought to reject her attempts to return. She was silenced and banished for criticizing new restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and urging a statehouse protest, which Republicans said was unacceptable. Zephyr said her exclusion was an assault on free speech intended to silence her criticism. Montana lawmakers demanded Zephyr apologize after she said that anyone who supported a ban on gender-affirming care for youths would have “blood” on their hands, a comment which Republicans claimed was intolerable.
Democratic Rep. Mertie Zephyr was barred from returning to the Montana House floor in a Tuesday court ruling. The case drew national attention and brought to light issues of transgender politics and free speech squashing in statehouses across the US. District Court Judge Mike Menahan, citing the safeguarding of the US Constitution’s separation of powers among the three branches, stated that it was beyond his authority to rule on the ejection by lawmakers last week of Zephyr from the House floor and debates. The decision followed Democrats’ and the transgender community’s outrage over Zephyr’s treatment and Republicans’ indignation towards the vehement reaction. While an appeal was being considered, the end of the 2023 legislative session rendered such a decision largely meaningless.
In another incident, Montana state representative Daisy Zephyr was barred from the state’s House of Representatives after she criticized Republican lawmakers for new, proposed restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and encouraged a raucous protest in the House chamber. Zephyr’s exclusion from debates has sparked a political standoff, which ultimately resulted in District Court Judge Mike Menahan affirming that lawmakers’ decision to bar Zephyr was made within their constitutional authority. Democrats and the transgender community are outraged, but Republicans welcomed Menahan’s decision as a victory for the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. Zephyr’s exclusion from the House of Representatives will last until the end of the 2023 session, but an appeal is being considered.
In conclusion, the silencing of Democratic and transgender lawmakers in the Montana State Legislature has brought up concerns over First Amendment rights, democracy, and abuse of power, particularly amid new anti-transgender laws being passed in several Republican-controlled states. The bans on minority Democrats and transgender lawmakers from debates and the House floor are raising questions about the future of democracy in the state and beyond.
