![]() She said throughout the events of the past week, she has both aimed to rise and meet the moment and continue doing the job she was elected to do: representing her community and constituents. And it’s so important that people stand up against this rising movement, this radical movement, and say it is not welcome," she said. "It’s so important that we not be silent about this from state to state to state. Megan Hunt likened her fight to Zephyr's after being served notice Wednesday of a complaint filed against her that she said was an effort to silence her voice on a gender-affirming care ban under consideration. Justin Pearson, one of the lawmakers who was expelled earlier this month, called the Montana standoff anti-democratic earlier this week and Nebraska state Sen. We’re going to send you away,'” Zephyr said.Īs in Montana, GOP leaders in Tennessee had said their actions were necessary to avoid setting a precedent that lawmakers’ disruptions of House proceedings through protest would be tolerated. ![]() Tennessee lawmakers not only rejected gun control laws, but by expelling the lawmakers they sent a message saying: “'Your voices shouldn’t be here. In her interview with the AP, Zephyr likened efforts to silence her to the decision by Tennessee lawmakers to expel two Black representatives for disrupting proceedings when they participated in a gun control protest after a school shooting in Nashville. The attention is a new phenomenon for Zephyr, a 34-year-old serving her first term representing a western Montana college town after being elected in November. The Republican response to her comments, and her refusal to apologize for them as demanded, have transformed Zephyr into a prominent figure in the nationwide battle for transgender rights and placed her at the center of the ongoing debate over the muffling of dissent in statehouses. Zephyr was prevented from speaking in the House after telling lawmakers backing a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors that they would have blood on their hands - a phrase that has been used recurrently by both Republicans and Democrats discussing the nation’s most polarizing issues. Minority Leader Kim Abbott said the lawmaker would be voting there, within public view. The motion Republicans passed bars Zephyr from the marble-pillared House, the gallery above it and a waiting room, but not the public space in the hall where she set up. ![]() stand for the principles that they elected you to stand for.” You stand up in defense of your community and you. "But you do the same thing you’ve always done. “There are many more eyes on Montana now,” Zephyr said. “I walked out yesterday with my head held high and I walked in with my head held high today, ready to do my job," Zephyr told The Associated Press.Īs cameras snapped and espresso beans churned in a machine nearby, Zephyr and Democratic leaders promised she would remain in the public eye unless Republicans elected to further limit where she could go in the Capitol. Her refusal to do so came as Democrats sought to keep Zephyr’s banishment in plain view after a week’s worth of nationwide public scrutiny over Republicans’ unprecedented actions to silence her.
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