Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Quinn Dombrowsk/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain and Montana Legislature
Zooey Zephyr, the first and so far only transgender woman elected to public office in Montana, has become familiar with surreal hallway encounters with her Republican colleagues in which they compliment the Democrat representative for her advocacy and “moving the needle” on trans issues. This is just after they have spoken in favor of, or voted for, a piece of anti-trans legislation, she told The Daily Beast.
In this legislative session, a bill prohibiting gender-affirming health care has passed both Montana’s Senate and House of Representatives, and currently awaits the signature of Governor Greg Gianforte. Another bill would ban drag shows (it has passed the House; next stop the Senate); another would allow people to misgender and deadname trans pupils at schools; another would allow medical professionals to withhold care according to their moral and religious beliefs; another would ban “obscene” books from public and school libraries.
The latest, and most extreme piece of anti-trans legislation, SB 458—which will soon head to the House for consideration—seeks to define sex according to reproductive capacity, stripping legal recognition from trans, non-binary, and those with intersex conditions. Should it pass in Montana, campaigners are concerned about the likelihood of similar bills being introduced and passed in other Republican-led legislatures. (Jeff Laszloffy, the president of the conservative Montana Family Foundation, was reportedly a key architect in the drafting of SB 458; Laszloffy did not respond to a request for comment.)