The Montana legislature has rejected a measure to ban state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D) – the only trans person in the legislature – from using the restroom. The Montana Joint House and Senate Rules committees voted 10-12 to reject the amendment (S.J. 1) banning trans people from using the appropriate restroom at the state capitol.
Zephyr was first elected in 2022 and has already worked in the state legislature for a session without issue when it came to restroom usage. But congressional Republicans at the national level agitated for a rule – which Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) implemented – banning incoming Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) from using the women’s restroom at the Capitol just last month. McBride is the first trans person elected to Congress.
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During the debate on S.J. 1, a joint resolution that lays out the rules for the coming legislative session, state Rep. Jerry Schillinger (R) proposed an amendment that said that “the gals’ restroom will be used only by gals and the guys’ restroom will be used only by guys.” The amendment referred only to the restrooms located between the state house and state senate.
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One lawmaker who commented on the measure, state Rep. David Bedey (R), asked if there was any need for this amendment after the previous session of the Montana legislature, where Zephyr wasn’t banned from using the restroom. He said that he “reluctantly” opposed the amendment because, after speaking with women in the legislature, he learned that no one had a problem with the current rules and that passing the amendment would be a “distraction from us doing our duties.”
The amendment “will have the effect of making people famous in the national news and will not contribute to the effective conduct of our business,” Bedey said.
State Rep. Ed Buttrey (R) asked how the amendment would be enforced, if everyone in the legislative body would be forced to get a medical examination or chromosome testing to see if they met the definition of “male” or “female” as laid out in the amendment.
Schillinger said that no testing would be needed and cited anti-LGBTQ+ activist Matt Walsh’s movie What is a Woman, which he claimed proved that “most of us can figure that out.” Another lawmaker said that there couldn’t be an answer to the question because no legal review had been conducted.
State Rep. Jedediah Hinkle (R) said that women in the legislature did have an issue in the previous session with sharing a restroom with Zephyr. He said that he knows multiple women lawmakers who would “go all the way across the capitol building, down to the bullpen, to use that bathroom rather than using the one right outside the house and senate chambers.”
Several other lawmakers – all men – talked about how the amendment should be passed in order to protect women lawmakers. No women spoke on the amendment.
Zephyr’s first term in the state legislature was not without controversy. The body debated a bill to ban gender-affirming care for trans minors in 2023, and Zephyr accused Republicans of having “blood on your hands” for supporting the bill.
“If you are denying gender-affirming care and forcing a trans child to go through puberty, that is tantamount to torture, and this body should be ashamed,” she said. “I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”
Conservative lawmakers demanded that she be censured for “using inappropriate and uncalled-for language during a floor debate.” She was barred from speaking on the state house floor. Speaker Matt Regier (R) said he decided to bar Zephyr from speaking “to protect the dignity and integrity” of the chamber.
On Monday, protesters in the state house chamber opposed Regier’s refusal to recognize Zephyr on the floor. The protesters chanted, “Let her speak!” while Zephyr raised a microphone towards them to amplify their voices. Police arrested seven protesters, and Zephyr stood nearby as they were booked at the county jail.
“I raised my mic and stood in solidarity with them,” Zephyr said later. “I am devoted to those who rise in defense of democracy.”
After the protest, top Republican state house members accused Zephyr of violating “the rules, collective rights, safety, dignity, integrity, or decorum” of the chamber and its members. Some even called the temporary, non-violent incident a “riot” and an “insurrection.”
State house Republicans voted to ban Zephyr from the state house floor in a 68-32 party-line vote. She was still allowed to vote remotely.
Zephyr was reelected this past November.
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