#zooey zephyr

[pitterpatterletsgetater2]

I haven’t seen a lot of talk about this, and I know we’re all emotionally/mentally exhausted in the USA with rights being stripped, but I think this is important. She’s a brave fucking woman, who is no longer allowed to speak for the people she represents.

Much like the Pearson and Jones expulsion, this is a flagrant move against democracy. However unlike P&J, she wasn’t expelled, just not allowed into the House meetings and not able to speak. She can vote, at least, but…that’s not much in a republican majority.

[porterdavis]

[yourdailyqueer]

Zooey Zephyr

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: Bisexual

DOB: 29 August 1988

Ethnicity: White - American

Occupation: Politician (Democrat), activist

Note: One of the first trans woman to be elected to the Montana legislature

[uncanny-tranny]

In montana US today, I was present for the censuring of trans rep Zooey Zephyr. She has been forbidden from speaking and from entering the chamber for the rest of the year. Please help raise awareness of them silencing our voices in this small state.

I've been sort of keeping tabs on her, it's genuinely fucked up and horrifying. While it's not surprising, it's still horrifying to know that democracy isn't necessarily what is important to America. She was voted in, and she is representing her constituents. Or she should be, rather. If you are out protesting in Montana, please be safe. Keep each other safe. You have people who want your voices heard.

Let Zooey Zephyr speak. Montanans deserve a voice.

[godtrauma]

congratulations to these three trans women who were elected this year!! may we give them their dues and support them along their journeys as elected officials. there is hope for the future. may we have more trans representatives going forward.

[liberalsarecool]

Toby Morton bought MattRegier.com

Matt Regier is the Montana House Speaker and a hot pile of human garbage.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lil Kalish at HuffPost:

The first-ever mobilization of trans voters around a presidential candidate took place on Zoom on Tuesday, as around 1,000 transgender people, including lawmakers, advocates, health care workers and celebrities, logged on to show support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the presidency. Trans Folks For Harris was one of numerous identity-based webinars to support Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month. Over the last few weeks, many LGBTQ+ advocates have embraced Harris, touting her decadeslong record of supporting LGBTQ+ rights, and her decision to make Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who transformed the state into a “trans refuge,” her running mate. This came just after Advocates for Trans Equality released a report showing that 75% of eligible trans voters turned up to the polls in the 2020 presidential election, compared to 67% of the general U.S. population — and that trans voters make up a crucial part of the electorate.

“We know our rights and our progress are on the line, but so is our very sense of belonging,” said Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who was elected as the first openly transgender state senator in the country. If McBride wins her bid for Delaware’s open House seat, she would become the first transgender member of Congress. “We have the opportunity, but more importantly, the responsibility in this election to show a trans young person who fears that the heart of this country is not big enough to love them too, that no matter what extremists say or do, our next president and vice president continue to have their backs,” McBride continued. The Harris-Walz campaign has yet to release any concrete policy plans on civil rights ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, but advocates say Harris and Walz have demonstrated their commitment to supporting LGBTQ+ rights, access to abortion and the rights to bodily autonomy overall. A draft of the Democrats’ platform, which was released in July, outlines their fight to restore reproductive rights, address racial inequalities, and protect democracy.

“It’s a step forward to ensure that trans people, especially Black and Brown trans women, have the representation and the resources they need to live with dignity and pride,” Zahara Bassett, CEO of Chicago trans advocacy organization Life Is Work, said on the call. “We need to make sure that our future is one of equity, justice and liberation for us all.” Harris was one of the first elected officials to publicly back marriage equality in 2004, and she refused to defend Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, in 2008. As a prosecutor, she also led the charge to end the so-called gay and transgender “panic defense,” a legal strategy often used to seek a lesser offense for perpetrators of anti-LGBTQ+ violence or murder by claiming that the victim made same-sex sexual advances. In June 2023, Harris became the first sitting vice president to visit the Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, and the site of the historic 1969 uprising of LGBTQ+ people fighting back against police raids in the New York City bar. And earlier this week, Harris released a video on X outlining how former President Donald Trump vastly restricted LGBTQ+ rights while in office — and how he would do so again if elected. Trump has already promised to roll back several policies, including blocking access to gender-affirming care for minors and rescinding the Biden administration’s Title IX rules that expand protections for transgender students. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, introduced a bill in the upper chamber to criminalize gender-affirming care for trans youth.

[...] Today’s embrace of Harris is in stark contrast to how some LGBTQ+ voters remembered her last bid for president in 2019. Back then, some advocates took issue with Harris’ tenure as a prosecutor for how she pushed for criminal penalties for parents of truant children and which led to the arrest of many Black and brown people. Many also noted how as attorney general, Harris’ office denied an incarcerated trans woman’s request for gender-affirming care. Harris has since apologized and said she takes “full responsibility” for her office’s actions. But still, not all LGBTQ+ voters are convinced. Harris’ support for the Biden administration’s policies towards Israel’s war in Gaza has alienated some of these voters. In the Democratic primaries this year, hundreds of thousands of voters cast “uncommitted” ballots as a form of protest to push for a cease-fire and end U.S. weapons transfers to Israel.

For the first time in American Presidential history, an organized mobilization effort for trans Americans to support Kamala Harris’s Presidency bid has cropped up, featuring a Trans Folks For Harris Zoom call. 🏳️‍⚧️

[themosticonicseveredhead]

when i sat down to watch the 2023 World Forum for Democracy's "Women, Democracy and Peace" talk, i can safely say i did *not* expect Montana State Representative (and noted ttrpg enthusiast) Zooey Zephyr to quote Brennan Lee Mulligan, but i can hardly say i'm disappointed

truly a woman of the people

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Today the far-right dominated Montana legislature, after first silencing her, plans to censure and expel its first elected trans woman member, Zooey Zephyr, just as the Tennessee legislature did to two young Black men. 

All because she dared to condemn legislation that will kill and torture trans children -- something that Democratic Party leaders and Joe Biden have refused to condemn, much less take action against.

These attacks go far beyond the scope of electoral politics. They are attacks on the right of oppressed people to be represented or even speak on matters that directly affect them. Fortunately, there is a growing fight-back movement to #LetHerSpeak. I have no doubt that there will be a fierce struggle to restore her seat if she is expelled, as there was for Justin Jones and Justin Pearson in Tennessee.

"Blue check" fans of Elon Musk are now openly calling for the public executions of trans people, their families and their health care providers. This is a fight for the whole working class and progressive movement. 

If you haven't spoken up, if you haven't joined a protest, if you haven't paid attention -- the time is now. 

- redguard

Artwork by Lee Leslie

[lenbryant]

Zooey Zephyr celebrates at LGBT prom, with a surprise ending.

[odinsblog]

What an asshole

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr spent her first day in legislative exile Thursday relegated to a bench in a noisy hallway across from a snack bar outside the state House chambers where she is no longer allowed.

Zephyr defiantly stayed put even after the Republican House speaker said she couldn’t be there and a House security officer threatened to move the bench where she had set up her laptop. She listened to debate and voted remotely from there, with a gold sticky note on the wall above her head that read “Seat 31,” her seat assignment in the house. The note was placed there by transgender and nonbinary Rep. SJ Howell.

Republicans had wanted Zephyr to participate from behind the doors of the House Minority’s offices a day after they voted to ban her from the House floor for the rest of the session, which ends early next week.

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, which continued Thursday.

Republicans moved to sideline Zephyr further by shutting down the two committees she serves on and moving the bills they were to hear to other committees, Democratic Rep. Donavon Hawk said in a statement.

(continue reading)

[theatreofthelivingmind]

When I saw Zooey Zephyr proposed to her girlfriend Erin Reed...well, my week got a bit better.

Congrats to the couple 👭

[thoughtportal]

Zooey Zephyr

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

In the aftermath of the 2024 election results, a handful of political pundits and two Democratic members of Congress have pointed fingers at transgender people, blaming them for Kamala Harris’s loss in the presidential race. While few voices are echoing these claims, prominent publications like The Atlantic and The New York Times have amplified these sentiments to millions of readers, despite limited evidence linking transgender issues to Democratic losses. Now, Sarah McBride, the first transgender Democratic congressperson in U.S. history, is pushing back. During a press conference held by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which represents over 100 progressive members of Congress, caucus chair Pramila Jayapal was asked, “Some have blamed that voters in your party have leaned too far into culture war issues, transgender issues… how should your party respond to that?” In response, Jayapal turned to other caucus members present, prompting Sarah McBride to step forward and deliver a sharp rebuke of those claims.

“Let’s be clear,” McBride started. “The party that was focused on culture wars… the party that was focused on trans people… was the Republican Party. It was Donald Trump. It was the hundred million, two hundred million dollars they spent on television ads. But I want to be clear: I do not believe, from what I’ve seen from the voters in Delaware, that the voters in my state were responding to those attacks… We were seeing those ads that Donald Trump clearly prioritized… What I was hearing from voters across the state of Delaware was not the ads that Donald Trump was putting on the air. What I was hearing from folks was the need to build an economy for everyone… What I was hearing was that the American dream is increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible. What I was hearing was that we need to guarantee affordable healthcare, housing, and childcare for every person in this state and country.” She then added, “I did not run on my identity, but my identity was not a secret. In a state where two-thirds of the voters are in the Philadelphia media market, with a trans candidate statewide, that candidate had the highest percentage of any Democrat running for statewide office in Delaware this cycle,” she said, referring to herself. Indeed, McBride received the highest statewide vote in Delaware, securing 57.9% compared to Harris’s 56.6%. McBride also recorded more votes than the Democratic candidate in 2020 and 2022.

[...] As explanations for Harris’s 2024 loss continue to surface, the Democratic Party has not yet fractured over transgender rights. The two representatives who scapegoated transgender people after the election have faced intense backlash, including from organizations like the Young Democrats of America. Meanwhile, transgender lawmakers like McBride and Zephyr offer a blueprint for the future, urging Democrats to stand firm on their values and work to improve the lives of all constituents without sacrificing vulnerable minorities. The question now is whether the Democratic Party will embrace this vision, or reject it in an attempt to court right-wing voters.

Trans Rep.-Elect Sarah McBride (D-DE) nails it: The Republicans, not the Democrats, are the ones who caused the culture wars, such as obsessing over trans people.