National
Montana GOP expel trans lawmaker for remainder of session
“This is an anti-democratic effort to censor one of their own colleagues for using her voice and platform to represent her constituents”

Democratic Montana state Representative Zooey Zephyr (HD-100) has been silenced by the House Republican supermajority for the remainder of the legislative session. She will lose all speaking privileges and will vote online.
Prior to the vote that barred her from participating on the House floor after she protested House Republican leaders’ decision earlier in the week to silence her, Zephyr said:
“It is my honor today to rise on behalf of my constituents for members of House District 100, and my members who elected me to represent them This legislature has systematically attacked that community. We have seen bills targeting our art forms, our books, our history, and our healthcare. And I rose up in defense of my community that day, speaking to harms that these bills bring.”
“A trans teen attempted to take their life watching that hearing. In that hearing, our caucus pleaded to the leader of that hearing to keep decorum and we were told that many people have many different opinions about those things.”
“If you use decorum to silence people who hold you accountable, then all you are doing is using decorum as a tool for oppression. When I continued to not be recognized, my community came and said that they let me speak. When the speaker gaveled down, he was driving a nail in the coffin of the nail of democracy. But you cannot kill democracy that easily, and that is why they kept chanting let her speak.”
“I’m not sure what comes next here, but I will do what I have always done. I will rise in support of my community. I will take the hard and moral choice to stand up for the people who elected me to do so. And I am grateful for those who stood up in defense of democracy. I hear from my constituents, I hear from your constituents that stood up on my behalf.”
“I know in this building, in these quiet halls, the staff come up to me and say thank you, for defending our community. I will always stand up for them, and I will always stand up for democracy in the state of Montana.”
As I left the House chambers, I pressed my light to speak—a reminder that this legislature is removing 11,000 Montanans from discussion on every bill going forward.
— Rep. Zooey Zephyr (@ZoAndBehold) April 26, 2023
I will always stand on behalf of my constituents, my community, and democracy itself. pic.twitter.com/H3CLZufy6E
Zephyr was supported by Native American lawmaker Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy (D) – HD32, who told the chamber: “The community that I represent does have trans. Some tribes, we call them two spirit people. My late uncle, one of my teachers in my way of life, has always told me … no matter who you are, we are all equal under the eyes of the almighty.
“There’s been a lot of things that have happened in this body over the last 21 years. This is nothing compared to things we’ve seen. We had a Democratic representative almost go fist to cuffs in the gallery. That was uncalled for. Why didn’t they get taken to the level of this,” he added noting: “Even in the Senate, we got up and we hit the desks. We almost got charged for messing up the state’s property. Why weren’t we disciplined like this?” “We are picking one person in this body for something she believes is right.”
“We need to just put this behind us, let her represent the people she represents, do the people’s work and move on,” he finished.
Another lawmaker then stood and berated the Republicans for taking this action. Representative SJ Howell (D) – HD 95, a trans nonbinary lawmaker from Missoula said:
“A yes vote on this motion puts our Democratic process and job as legislators second. Though I love my job, I have faced a series of deeply offensive behaviors. There has been a pattern of unwillingness to listen to a diverse set of opinions in front of us.”
“The right to protest is a clearly upheld right in the state and US constitution and we took oaths to protect that constitution. It is deeply unsurprisingly to me that the community responded the way it did. Its not just one of our own that has been silenced. It happened after a session where bills have targeted us, struggling for equal treatment under the law.”
“We are here because we are struggling with a debate we have had since the beginning of this session on a set of bills. Bills that directly impact the safety of the LGBT community. Not one Dem brought any of those bills,” Howell said.
Reaction was swift from LGBTQ and civil rights groups:
“This is an anti-democratic effort by House leadership to censor one of their own colleagues for using her voice and platform to represent her constituents,” said Keegan Medrano, policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana. “Rep. Zephyr is a duly-elected member of the legislature and entitled to represent the people of their district. In voting to take away her microphone, the House is attempting to silence Montanans and trans people from speaking to the harm of all these bills. This is another shameful day in our state’s history and we’re determined to protect every transgender Montanans from these vile, bigoted attacks on their dignity and equality.”
“There is a name for when elected officials attack and silence other elected officials they don’t agree with to prevent them from fulfilling their duties – it’s called authoritarianism,” said Deirdre Schifeling, national political director at the ACLU. “Freedom of speech is essential to our democracy. Trans people are an essential part of our democracy — both as voters and lawmakers — and must be defended.”
“For anti-LGBTQ lawmakers to launch a verbal and legislative war against transgender Montanans and censure the state’s only trans lawmaker for telling the truth – that they will have blood on their hands – is destructive and absurd. Her comment is incomparable to the harmful and hateful rhetoric of these anti-LGBTQ lawmakers and incomparable to the undeniable harm this legislation will have on trans people. Rep. Zephyr’s voice is needed more than ever at this moment and her opponents understand that. It is the reason they are determined to silence her,: Elliot Imse, executive director of the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, said in a statement.
“Government representation is essential for LGBTQ+ community members who rarely see themselves reflected in positions of power, especially in conservative states like Montana. Transgender people must be part of the conversations about their lives,” Imse added.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president of GLAAD, issued the following statement:
“The silencing and threats of censure and expulsion against Rep. Zephyr for speaking up in support of transgender Montanans is an attack on our nation’s democratic ideals and free speech values. It’s an assault on democracy to suppress the already marginalized and under-represented voices of LGBTQ people and people of color, and the lawmakers who were duly elected to represent them. The attack against Rep. Zephyr is the latest in a disturbing trend across the country as LGBTQ and ally lawmakers in Tennessee, Oklahoma and other states have also faced recent threats of censure simply for speaking up for their constituents. Speaking up is literally what they were elected to do. This news is a strong reminder that our voices are our power. When we speak, extremist lawmakers can’t help but hear us.”
In the past few months, a number of additional elected officials and/or protestors at state capitals have faced disciplinary action for vocalizing their support for LGBTQ people or progressive issues:
- Three state lawmakers in Tennessee faced disciplinary action following their participation in a gun violence protest shortly after a school shooting in Nashville. Resolutions for expulsions of two of the three lawmakers — two black men, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson — passed with a two-thirds majority, while the third — a white woman, Rep. Gloria Johnson — failed to pass by one vote. (The lawmakers were all later reinstated.)
- In Oklahoma, protestors opposing a ban on health care for trans residents were escorted out of a House floor hearing, one of whom — a trans man — was thrown by a state trooper to the floor of a stairwell and handcuffed as he was held face down.
- Shortly afterwards, Republican House leaders announced a censure of Rep. Mauree Turner, a Black Muslim legislator and Oklahoma’s first and only nonbinary elected representative, claiming that Rep. Turner “impeded law enforcement” by helping one of the protestors in their office. Rep. Turner continues to be censured to date as Oklahoma legislators continue considering a slate of anti-LGBTQ bills.
More than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed in state legislatures in 2023 seeking to ban health care for trans Americans, prohibit transgender youth from being allowed to participate on school sports teams, prohibit any mention of LGBTQ people or issues in school curriculums, criminalize drag performances and Pride celebrations, and more.
LGBTQ Political Representation
LGBTQ people make up 7.1 percent of the population but only a small number of elected officials, although the number has increased over the past few years:
Number of trans/nonbinary elected officials according to the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute:
- The number of openly nonbinary elected officials has grown from five in 2019 to 20 in 2023.
- The number of openly transgender men in elected office has grown from five in 2019 to nine in 2023.
- The number of transgender women in elected office has grown from 15 in 2019 to 41 in 2023.
- In total, the number of openly transgender/ nonbinary elected officials has increased from 25 in 2019 to at least 70 in 2023.
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.
The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.
The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”
Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.
“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”
GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”
Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.
“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”
“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.”
Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.
“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.
Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.
Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.
The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”
Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.
“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.
Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.
The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.
Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”
Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.
“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”
“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.
Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.
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