UNITED STATES: Montana’s governor on Friday signed a bill into law to enact a Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, days after a transgender lawmaker who was protesting the bill was denied access to the state legislature’s floor, igniting a national uproar.
The bill, which forbids transitional hormone treatments and surgeries for transgender people under the age of 18, led to a deadlock this month between Representative Zooey Zephyr, one of the few transgender legislators, and House leadership.
Last week, Zephyr told her conservative colleagues in a speech on the House floor that the ban would “put blood on your hands” and that refusing transition care would be “tantamount to torture.” Days later, the House leadership declined to call on Zephyr during debate on any bill that was up for consideration in the House.
The Republican-controlled House censured Democrat Zephyr on Wednesday and barred her from the chamber for the rest of the current legislative session as a result of remarks she made on April 18 that suggested lawmakers who backed the bill would have blood on their hands.
Three days later, the law, Senate Bill 99, was approved by the House of Representatives, and Greg Gianforte, the Republican Governor, signed it into law on Friday.
Republican politicians have spearheaded a campaign to limit specific medical procedures prescribed for transgender youngsters, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, with scores of similar bills submitted in legislatures across the United States.
Opponents of transgender medical procedures claim that their long-term implications are not completely understood and that children and teenagers are too young to make such life-altering decisions, even with parental guidance.
Zephyr, a first-term representative from Missoula, stated that depriving gender-affirming care to children who feel at odds with their biological sex was “tantamount to torture” and that a ban would increase suicide rates.
In response to Zephyr’s floor remarks, Republican House leaders initially turned off her microphone. On Monday this week, the level of acrimony escalated when Zephyr organised a demonstration by her supporters shouting “Let her speak!” from the audience gallery, which resulted in the arrest of seven protesters.
LGBTQ groups urged supporters to participate in a 24-hour protest event in Missoula on Friday and Saturday after Zephyr was officially excluded from the House floor, gallery, and anteroom on a party-line vote of 68-32 on Wednesday.
Karine Jean-Pierre, a spokesperson for the White House, described the Montana Republican House’s vote against Zephyr on Thursday as a “denial of democratic values.”
The censure has also been compared to the Republican decision to expel two black state members in Tennessee after they organised a pro-gun control demonstration on the House floor three weeks prior.
The county legislatures in Tennessee swiftly reappointed the lawmakers to their positions, earning them a trip to the White House.
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