In a shocking turn of events, Republican House representatives in Montana decided to cross the aisle and vote against two anti-transgender bills, following powerful speeches delivered by transgender Reps. Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell.
President Donald Trump has made his opposition to LGBTQ+ rights very clear, and as a result, Republicans and even some Democrats have felt emboldened to push anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. Republican legislators in numerous states have proposed bills targeting trans people, and GOP-dominated states like Montana are no exception.
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“We’d spend every night falling asleep with one another on video calls and wake up next to one another and say ‘Good morning.'”
On March 6, day 47 in Montana’s 69th Legislature, lawmakers debated nearly 250 bills, including ones targeting the trans population, which Republican representatives largely supported, with some notable exceptions.
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House Bill 675, sponsored by Rep. Caleb Hinkle (R), would ban drag performances and Pride parades in Montana. Hinkle proposed it in response to a previous drag ban he sponsored being struck down by the courts after it was used against a trans woman who was not a drag artist to prevent her from speaking at a library event.
To circumvent this ruling, Rep. Hinkle proposed granting individuals the private right to sue drag performers rather than relying on state enforcement. Hinkle called being transgender “a fetish” during committee hearings.
Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D) took to the floor and gave an impassioned speech in response.
“At its very core, drag is art. It is very beautiful art. It has a deep history in this country, and it is important to my community. You know, if you are a woman in this body wearing a suit today, you are in some way challenging gender norms that existed long ago,” she said.
“There were three-article-of-clothing laws 50 years ago that said if you wore three articles of clothing that were indicative of the opposite gender, they could stop you, arrest you,” she continued. “It was those laws that led to the police raiding an LGBTQ+ bar that led to the Stonewall riots, one of the most important civil rights moments in my community’s history.”
She added, “The sponsor … 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. I was proud 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. This is what these bills are trying to come after… not obscene shows in front of children; we have the Miller test for that, we have laws for that. This is a way to target the trans community, and that is in my opinion, and in the speaker’s own words.”
In a surprising turn of events, Rep. Sherry Essmann (R) rose to Rep. Zephyr’s defense, chastising the bill’s sponsor for using parental rights as his argument for bringing this bill into law, pointing out that such a bill would impede on the rights of parents such as Rep. Zephyr, and that representatives who support parents’ rights should vote against this bill.
In Rep. Essmann’s own words, “I’m speaking as a parent and a grandmother. And I’m very emotional because I know the representative in seat 20 is also a parent. No matter what you think of that, she is doing her best to raise a child. I did my best to raise my children as I saw fit, and I’m taking it for granted that my children are going to raise my grandchildren as they see fit,”
Following these two speeches, 13 Republican representatives voted against the bill.
This turn of events would’ve been remarkable in its own right, but this wasn’t the only occurrence of aisle-crossing on trans issues this session.
House Bill 754, if passed, would’ve had even more devastating consequences. The measure would’ve allowed the state to remove transgender children from their parents.
Rep. SJ Howell (D) took the floor to argue against the passing of the bill. Rep. Howell, who is non-binary, pointed out the vagueness of what the bill defines as a transgender child as it could mean a child who does anything that defies conventional gender norms, such as having a certain haircut or trying out a new nickname.
“Transitioning gender is not defined in this bill… so what does that mean? Maybe it means, as the sponsor said, surgery or medical treatment. Maybe it means therapy, mental healthcare. Maybe it means a kid who gets a haircut and a new set of clothes. Maybe a name change… a legal name change, or someone who wants to try out a different name… a strict reading of this bill could include all of that,” Howell said.
Rep. Howell further drove their point that the decision for the state to intervene in the removal of a child is a serious matter that holds a great deal of weight. They urged lawmakers to keep that in mind and consider the real consequences.
“Put yourself in the shoes of a [Child Protective Services] 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? 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,” they said.
The bill went to a vote; this time, the Montana Republican party was fully fractured on the matter with 29 Republican representatives voting nay, killing the bill with a majority vote from all representatives.
When discussing the results of these two decisions, Rep. Zephyr took to Bluesky, where in a post she typed, “These kind of votes are born out of trans representation in government.”
These kind of votes are born out of trans representation in government. Rep. Howell & I have built solid relationships with Republicans and those relationships change hearts, minds, and (eventually) votes. It is painful, grueling work. But it makes a difference.
— Rep. Zooey Zephyr (@zoandbehold.bsky.social) March 6, 2025 at 1:18 PM
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