Rep. Zooey Zephyr is a transgender woman politician in the Montana House of Representatives. Some Republican lawmakers from the Montana Freedom Caucus are demanding Zephyr be censured by the Montana House because of the use of “inappropriate and uncalled-for language during a floor debate. That debate was over amendments to a bill that bans medical care for transgender minors.

Zephyr, in opposition to the bill, went too far, according to other members in the House, and voiced her disapproval in a graphic manner.

“If you are forcing a trans child to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture, and this body should be ashamed,” Zephyr said during her speech on the amendments on Tuesday. “The only thing I will say is if you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”

“Blood on your hands” was too far. The Montana Freedom Caucus called for Zephyr’s censure. “This kind of hateful rhetoric from an elected official is exactly why tragedies such as the Covenant Christian School shooting in Nashville occurred,” the caucus said in a statement last Tuesday. As they called for the censure, they misgendered Zephyr. Zooey uses she/her pronouns. The Caucus used the pronoun “his” when referring to Zooey in a tweet.

So, Zooey doubled down. Then Zooey claims the Speaker of the House silenced her by refusing to allow Zooey to take part in the debate on the floor. Zephyr has not been recognized to speak for several days.

“I stand by my accurate description of the devastating consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youth,” Zephyr said in a response to the censure call on Wednesday. “(A)s long as I am a member of the Montana Legislature, I will never stop fighting for trans people in our state.”

According to Zephyr, on Wednesday evening Montana Speaker of the House Matt Regier, a Republican, said he would refuse to allow Zephyr to partake in debate for the remainder of the legislative session. On Thursday Zephyr, however, punched in to speak on a separate Senate bill which “misdefines sex as binary, and then writes trans people out of 40 sections of Montana code,” she told CNN early Friday morning. The speaker then refused to recognize Zephyr and while the Democratic minority leader opposed the ruling, a rules committee was convened, and the Montana GOP voted to uphold Regier’s ruling.

Zephyr was again not recognized Friday on the House floor after she pressed a button to speak during a bill discussion about adult content on the internet.

To supporters of Zooey, this is the latest example of statehouses deciding who can be heard during legislative debates. The media is only too happy to frame the story as the bad Republicans silencing the transgender lawmaker. Zooey looks like she wants special privileges and does not have to play by the rules everyone else has to play by. Zooey refuses to apologize to colleagues for the vulgar language. Zephyr vowed not to change course.

BREAKING: The Montana House of Reps has been shut down by left-wing protesters who are there protesting the censure of transgender Democrat Rep. Zooey Zephyr, that was led by the @MTFreedomCaucus, for telling his Republican colleagues they have "blood on their hands" for passing… pic.twitter.com/MnOyO4FhlN

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 24, 2023

On Monday, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris met with the Tennessee Three. They didn’t bring in the families of the victims in the school mass shooting. Just the lawmakers who created a disturbance upon not getting their way with a vote on the floor on gun control. Bullhorns were brought in and the three disrupted the proceedings on the floor. It was a blatant violation of the decorum rules that all lawmakers sign off on in agreement of honoring the rules. Instead, they had a temper tantrum and are enjoying their 15 minutes of fame, including a visit with Kamala when she was in Nashville last week and today’s visit to the White House.

Zooey seems to be enjoying the attention, too. Instead of a formal censure, it looks like Zephyr will instead just not be acknowledged for the rest of the legislative session.

“I want to be clear: no amount of silencing tactics will deter me from standing up for the rights of the transgender community,” Zephyr said in response to Thursday’s actions, stopping her from speaking on any bill for the remained of the legislative session.

As to what’s next, Zephyr told CNN that her understanding was that “rather than pursuing a formal censure” the House speaker is going to “simply refuse to acknowledge” her for the remainder of the session – denying her to the ability to participate in debate on bills.

Several states are passing legislation that transgender activists say bring suffering to transgender teens. Supporters of the legislation argue that minors should be protected and their parents should know what they are doing.

The bill passed and Governor Greg Gianforte, a Republican, has indicated he will sign it.

Zephyr was the first openly transgender woman elected to the Montana Legislature. Zephyr is a 34 year old Democrat from Missoula, a liberal college town where she was a staffer at the University of Montana. Her focus is on LGBTQ rights.

Protesters brought the state house to a halt on Monday after Zephyr was not acknowledged in order to be able to speak for the third day.

Police arrested half a dozen of Zephyr’s supporters. Protesters, some of whom were forcibly removed from the chambers, chanted “Let her speak!” from the gallery before they were escorted out.

Zephyr’s supporters gathered outside the statehouse on Monday, waving pride flags and chanting “Let her speak!”. As proceedings began, they filled the statehouse gallery and supplemental Montana highway patrol officers stood by to monitor developments. Zephyr voted on various measures, but leadership pushed discussion of a bill she requested to speak on to the end of the agenda.

Republicans denied Zephyr’s requests to speak on a proposal that would have restricted when children could change the names and pronouns they use in school and required their parents’ consent, prompting her supporters to interrupt proceedings for nearly half an hour. In the initial moments after proceedings were paused Monday afternoon, Zephyr defiantly hoisted a non-functioning microphone into the air.

Zephyr’s supporters were escorted from the gallery above the state house floor, several by force. Leaders cut the sound on the video feed and Zephyr remained on the floor holding her microphone. Zephyr did not return after lawmakers reconvened and wrote on Twitter that she would be back after showing “support for those who were arrested defending democracy”.

Supporters weren’t arrested for “defending democracy.” They were arrested for disrupting a legislative session. There are rules in a democratic proceeding that lawmakers agree to abide by. That includes Zooey. No lawmaker is more important than the other, and they all have to follow the same rules. Zooey is a freshman. Perhaps she will learn from her mistakes. Lawmakers don’t get all that they want. They have to learn to deal with it and learn to come back and fight the next time. Being transgender has nothing to do with decorum and the rules of the session.

Transgender Montana lawmaker Zooey Zephyr was again prevented from taking part in debate over a measure banning gender-affirming care for minors as her supporters brought the House session to a halt — chanting “Let her speak!” from the gallery. https://t.co/J6SGW8BJZy pic.twitter.com/GlEZFoFYHb

— ABC News (@ABC) April 25, 2023