Transgender lawmakers in Montana lead unlikely defeat of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation with bipartisan support

On Thursday, two transgender Montana legislators in Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D- Central Missoula) and Rep. SJ Howell (D-Downtown Missoula) delivered potent speeches rejecting two anti-LGBTQ+ bills, inspiring an unlikely bipartisan take-down of the legislation.

One, known as House Bill 675, would ban drag performances and Pride parades in the state. The other, HB 754, would allow for transgender children to be taken away from their parents if they received gender affirming care. 

In response to the former, Zephyr delivered a powerful rebuttal. 

“When the sponsor closed on this bill, he said, this bill is needed… and I quote his words… ‘because transgenderism is a fetish based on crossdressing.’ And I am here to stand before the body and say that my life is not a fetish. My existence is not a fetish,” Zephyr said.

“I was proud within a month ago to have my son up in the gallery here. Many of you on the other side met him. When I go to walk him to school, that’s not a lascivious display. That is not a fetish. That is my family,” she concluded.

And in regards to the bill which would allow Child Protective Services to remove transgender children from homes that affirm such an identity, Howell was equally as decisive. 

“Put yourself in the shoes of a CPS worker who is confronted with a young person, 15 years old maybe, who is happy … healthy … living in a stable home with loving parents, who is supported and has their needs met?” they said. 

“And they are supposed to remove that child from their home and put them in the care of the state? We should absolutely not be doing that.”

Surprisingly, such rhetoric struck a chord with local Republicans. For HB 675, 13 Republicans joined Montana Democrats in striking down the bill. For HB 754, a whopping 29 GOP members would cross the aisle. 

“Everybody in here talks about how important parental rights are. I want to tell you, in addition to parental rights, parental responsibility is also important,” Rep. Sherry Essman (R-Southwest Billings) said in her defense of Zephyr’s statement. 

“And if you can’t trust a decent parent to decide where and when their kids should see what, then we have a bigger problem.”

As the culture war under Trump 2.0 continues its exhausting churn, local politicians and organizers are standing up to reactionary policy that would actively harm minority groups in their communities.