"I hope the next time you bow your head in prayer, you see blood on your hands," said Zooey Zephyr, Montana's first transgender congresswoman. And for those words, she has been banned from the House of Representatives of this state.
You will not be able to enter the parliamentary premises or participate in person during the rest of the legislative year. You can only cast your vote remotely.
"When I said that there was blood on his hands, I was not being hyperbolic. I was talking about the real consequences of the votes that we, as legislators, take in this body," added the parliamentarian, whose right to speak had already been withdrawn , this Wednesday. "What they really ask me is to keep silent (...). And I refuse to do it."
With the phrase "blood on her hands," Zephyr expressed (very graphically) her clear rejection of a bill in Montana - which has attracted national attention - that seeks to ban transgender health treatments for minors, including hormone blockers.
The deputies who decided to veto it believe that Zephyr violated the minimum decorum that is presupposed to legislators. "She clearly violated the rights of the collective," said Republican Rep. Sue Vinton in introducing the motion, which was approved by 68 votes in favor and 32 against.
"If they use propriety to silence people who demand accountability, then what they are doing is using propriety as a tool of oppression," Zephyr responded.
Following the House resolution, Zephyr tweeted: "This legislature is removing 11,000 Highlanders [the voters it represents] from discussion of every bill hereafter." Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the measure "authoritarianism."
"Freedom of speech is essential in our democracy. Trans people are an essential component of our democracy, as voters and legislators, and they must be championed," said Deirdre Schifeling, director of national policy for the ACLU.
The confrontation in the House of the conservative state of Montana is the latest episode in the debate for the rights of the LGBTQ community, an issue that deeply divides the United States.
Since January, 29 new laws restricting the rights of transgender people have been passed in 14 states, according to an ACLU analysis published by the Washington Post.
This chapter comes weeks after two black Democrats were expelled from the Tennessee legislature after speaking out against what they saw as Republican complicity in gun violence.
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