Trans rep Zooey Zephyr was re-elected in Montana and she’s no longer under a gag order | CBC Radio

More than a year after Montana Republicans barred Rep. Zooey Zephyr from speaking in the legislature, the transgender lawmaker has been re-elected and is ready to make herself heard again.

“When you get into elected office, you fundamentally believe in democracy, in elected representation. As I walk into that room, I will be thinking about pushing back,” Zephyr, a Democrat, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.

“How do we push back against those who seek to erode the foundational principles of democracy?” 

Zephyr, the first openly transgender lawmaker in Montana, secured her second term in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, one year and seven months after her Republican colleagues voted to bar her from the House floor and prevent her from speaking on any bill in the legislature. 

Her exile technically ended when the 2023 session adjourned. But the legislature did not meet in 2024, so she will make her long-awaited return to the House floor in 2025.

Victory comes amid a Republican rise 

Her victory at the state level comes as Republicans seize control of the U.S. Senate and the White House under Donald Trump, who made anti-trans ads and policy proposals a cornerstone of his campaign. 

“Obviously, what happened with Trump is very scary for the country. But locally in Montana, we picked up nine seats in the House of Representatives and broke the Republican supermajority,”  Zephyr said. 

“Right now, what we are wrestling with is wins at the local level, wins for strong progressive policy, and also a country that’s embraced an openly authoritarian leader.”

Election results are still being tabulated in Montana, but tentative results show Democrats picking up two seats in the Senate and nine in the House, while Republicans hold onto majorities in both chambers.

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Zephyr defeated Republican Barbara Starmer in her Democrat-leaning district in the university town of Missoula, holding onto the seat she first won in 2022.

But she last spoke in the House chamber in April 2023, when she said that her colleagues who supported a ban on gender-affirming care for minors had “blood on [their] hands.”

In response, a group of conservative legislators known as the Montana Freedom Caucus issued a statement, intentionally and repeatedly misgendering Zephyr, and calling for her to be sanctioned.

The Republican-dominated House then voted along party lines to block Zephyr from speaking any bills in the legislature and bar her from the House floor until she apologized for the comments, which she refused to do. 

At the time of Zephyr’s ouster, Republican House Speaker Matt Regier said he was following his duty to “maintain decorum” and “protect the dignity and integrity” of the House floor.

Regier was elected to the state Senate on Tuesday, reports the Daily Inter Lake newspaper.

“I’m excited for America and I’m excited for the state of Montana,” he said Wednesday. 

‘I came back a second time because I love my state’

The battle over Zephyr’s comments propelled her into the national spotlight, which in turn, made her a target.

In May 2023, anonymous tipsters tried to send armed tactical teams to Zephyr’s home and that of her girlfriend, journalist Erin Reed, in a practice known as “swatting.”

The attempt failed, however, because Zephyr and Reed had both reached out to local police in the months before, anticipating the possibility they’d be targeted in that way.

Asked why she would want to return to a job that has been so hostile, and at times dangerous, Zephyr said the answer is simple.

“I came back a second time because I love my state. I love my city. And I believe that you need to have people fighting, fighting to make the change that we believe in,” she said.

Zephyr has repeatedly referred to the U.S. political environment as “cruel,” but says that’s no reason to throw in the towel.

“You cannot you cannot stop cruelty from happening. You cannot make a legislator or a politician or your neighbours be kinder, gentler people all the time. You can try. You can plant the seeds. But when you are unable to do so, you must bear witness and reveal that cruelty,” she said.

“And I think a lot of what we are going to see in America in 2025 is organizers, politicians of the left trying to build community and trying to make sure that those who want to push hateful, divisive policies do not get to do so in the dark.”