Montana Republicans Ban Zooey Zephyr from House Chamber

metroweekly.com:

survey by The Trevor Project, more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth reported having seriously considered suicide over the past year, with nearly 1 in 5 actually attempting suicide.)Republicans balked at Zephyr’s speech, arguing that her rhetoric was inflammatory.

According to the motion to expel her from the chamber,  they argued she “violated the rules, collective rights, safety, dignity, integrity, or decorum of the House of Representatives.”Some Republicans, including the right-wing Montana Freedom Caucus, even suggested that Zephyr’s words might inspire violence, such as the mass shooting at a Christian school in Tennessee last month, and called for her censure.In the following days, House Speaker Matt Regier (R-Columbia Falls) refused to allow Zephyr to speak on bills brought to the House floor until she apologized for her rhetoric.Zephyr refused, and accused legislative leaders of trying to silence her.Regier’s continued refusal to recognize Zephyr came to a head on Monday, when protesters demonstrated on the steps of the Montana Capitol and filled the House gallery on Monday, shouting, “Let her speak!”During the protest, Zephyr held up a microphone to amplify the protesters’ voices, and Regier ordered the gallery cleared by police, resulting in the arrests of seven individuals.Republicans cried foul and characterized the protest as a “riot” and an “insurrection.”Regier, Speaker Pro tempore Rhonda Knudsen, and Majority Leader Sue Vinton issued a joint statement referring to the protesters as “far-left agitators” and claiming their actions “damage[d] our discourse and endangered legislators and staff.”Seeking to punish Zephyr, Republican lawmakers insisted that she had broken House rules and scheduled a.