2023-04-26 22:07:41
Washington, Apr 26 (EFE).- The Montana State House of Representatives (USA), with a Republican majority, voted this Wednesday in favor of censuring the first transgender legislator in the state, who has opposed the bills seeking to ban gender-affirming treatments for minors in the state.
All 68 state House Republicans voted to expel Congresswoman Zooey Zephyr from the floor until the end of the current legislative term at the end of April.
The Democratic legislator will be able to participate remotely in the voting, but will not have the right to speak, according to local media reports.
The Montana Congressional decision to censure Zephyr came two days after a protest for transgender and sexually diverse rights disrupted floor proceedings. Republican lawmakers accused Zephyr of inciting the demonstration.
Since last week, however, the congresswoman has not been allowed to speak on the floor, after she said that Republican lawmakers would have “blood on their hands” if they pass a bill that prohibits minors from receiving gender affirming treatments.
The Republicans accused Zephyr of having broken the rules of the Lower House and of decorum by having “incited” the protest and by his statements against the legislative project.
“I have friends who have taken their own lives because of these laws (…) when I stood up and said that they have blood on their hands, I was not using hyperbole. He was talking about the real consequences” of the projects that are put to a vote in the state congress, Zephyr assured today in an intervention prior to a vote to censor it.
The legislative proposal that Zephyr opposed is among more than 100 bills that have been introduced across the country to restrict transgender minors from accessing medical treatment, according to data from the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU).
Fourteen states have already prohibited or restricted this type of medical treatment by law, according to ACLU data.
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