Eli Elza

Media Writing
Hard News Story
May 5, 2023

ACLU sues Montana over censorship of trans state legislator

MONTANA May 1, 2023 - The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana filed a
lawsuit in state court on Monday over the censure of Rep. Zooey Zephyr, Montana’s first
transgender state legislator. The lawsuit alleges Montana’s Republican-led House of
Representatives is violating Zephyr’s First Amendment rights by refusing to let her speak.

The defendants listed in the suit are the state of Montana; Rep. Matt Regier, speaker of the
Montana House; and Bradley Murfitt, sergeant-at-arms of the Montana House.

The lawsuit states, "By depriving Representative Zephyr of her right to freely engage with the
legislative process, Defendants have also deprived her 11,000 constituents of the right to full
representation in their government. Defendants’ lawless silencing and Censure of Representative
Zooey Zephyr extinguishes a vital part of the job her constituents elected her to do.”

“The ACLU is trying to use the courts to interfere with the legislature as it carries out its
constitutional duties on behalf of Montanans," said a spokesperson for Austin Knudsen,
Montana’s Attorney General. "Any relief granted by the court would be a gross violation of the
separation of powers.”

The censure against Zephyr started on April 18, when she opposed a bill banning gender-
affirming care for minors. Zephyr told colleagues who supported the bill that they have blood on
their hands. This is referencing statistics that show suicide rates in transgender youths are
reduced when they have access to gender-affirming care.

On Wednesday there was a vote to temporarily expel Zephyr. She will be banished from the
House floor for the rest of the 2023 session, which ends May 5, and can only vote remotely.

According to a statement by the ACLU of Montana, Zephyr stated, “House leadership explicitly
and directly targeted me and my district because I dared to give voice to the values and needs of
transgender people like myself. By doing so, they’ve denied me my own rights under the
Constitution and, more importantly, the rights of my constituents to just representation in their
own government.”

The Montana chapter of the ACLU has also promised to challenge the recently passed gender-
affirming care law.
Sources:
https://apnews.com/article/zooey-zephyr-montana-transgender-
0515fc9dec749bc7df78928b32edd3e6
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3985427-zooey-zephyr-says-censure-was-attack-on-
the-very-first-principles-of-our-country/