{"id":572634,"date":"2023-05-01T19:27:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T16:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/montana-legislator-sues-house-speaker-over-censure\/"},"modified":"2023-05-01T19:27:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T16:27:11","slug":"montana-legislator-sues-house-speaker-over-censure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/montana-legislator-sues-house-speaker-over-censure\/","title":{"rendered":"#Montana legislator sues House speaker over censure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/644c9d2ededbc9.64595978.jpeg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a Democrat censured last week by Republicans in the state House, is suing her state and its House speaker over her punishment. <\/p>\n<p>Zephyr, along with three of her constituents who are also a part of the suit, argues the Legislature took retaliatory and unlawful action against her for engaging in speech protected under federal law.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Montana House Republicans last week\u00a0voted to censure Zephyr, barring her from the House floor, anteroom and gallery for the remaining nine days of Montana\u2019s legislative session. She has the option to participate remotely, but only by voting.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.api.aclu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ZZ-Compl.-FINAL.pdf\">The lawsuit<\/a>,\u00a0filed Monday in state court, argues House Republicans, including Speaker Matt Regier, violated her rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and disenfranchised the 11,000 Montanans Zephyr was elected to represent when they voted to prevent Zephyr from participating in legislative debate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVoters elect their Representatives to do more than simply vote on bills,\u201d Monday\u2019s lawsuit states. \u201dRepresentatives also are elected to use of the floor of the House to pursue their constituents\u2019 interests and views \u2014 using the platform provided by the People\u2019s House to educate and persuade their colleagues and the public through speech, debate, and lobbying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefendants\u2019 lawless silencing and Censure of Representative Zooey Zephyr extinguishes a vital part of the job her constituents elected her to do,\u201d the lawsuit adds.<\/p>\n<p>Zephyr, one of the state\u2019s\u00a0first openly transgender lawmakers, has faced calls for her censure since late last month, when she said lawmakers who voted to pass a bill to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender youths would have \u201cblood on your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you are forcing a trans child to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture. This body should be ashamed,\u201d Zephyr said last month on the House floor. The bill, Senate Bill 99, was\u00a0signed into law\u00a0late last week by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, three days after Zephyr was censured.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>State House and Senate Republicans im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely following Zephyr\u2019s remarks\u00a0demanded she be censured\u00a0for attempting to shame members of the Legislature by using \u201cin<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ropriate and uncalled-for language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the week leading up to Zephyr\u2019s censure, Regier refused to recognize Zephyr for debate on a single bill and deactivated her microphone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis effort by House leadership to silence me and my constituents is a disturbing and terrifying affront to democracy itself,\u201d Zephyr said Monday <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/emergency-lawsuit-seeks-full-reinstatement-of-mt-state-rep-zooey-zephyrs-legislative-rights\">in a statement<\/a>\u00a0released by her attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cHouse 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,\u201d she said. \u201cBy doing so, they\u2019ve 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 State House is the people\u2019s House, not Speaker Regier\u2019s, and I\u2019m determined to defend the right of the people to have their voices heard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regier did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The vote to censure Zephyr comes just over a month after Republicans in Oklahoma voted to censure Democratic Rep. Mauree Turner, the nation\u2019s first openly nonbinary state legislator, after Turner allowed a protestor at the capitol to use their office following an arrest.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>In Nebraska last week, Democratic Sen. Megan Hunt, the mother of a transgender child, said she was being\u00a0investigated for a potential conflict of interest\u00a0after she voted against a bill that would ban gender-affirming health care for minors.<\/p>\n<p>Two Black Democratic state lawmakers \u2014 Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson \u2014 were expelled from Tennessee\u2019s GOP-controlled legislature in March after they joined a protest at the capitol calling for stronger gun laws.<\/p>\n<p>Both legislators have since been reinstated. State Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white and protested alongside Jones and Pearson, was not expelled.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p><em>Updated at 1:03 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/state-watch\/3981703-montana-legislator-sues-house-speaker-over-censure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a Democrat censured last week by Republicans in the state House, is suing her state and its House speaker over her punishment. Zephyr, along with three of her constituents who are also a part of the suit, argues the Legislature took retaliatory and unlawful action against her for engaging in speech&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":572635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/644c9d2ededbc9.64595978.jpeg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134747,134417,134343,16450,73014,39706,142833,71512,134345,4965,142715],"class_list":["post-572634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-arts-culture","tag-blog-briefing-room","tag-campaign","tag-equality","tag-health-care","tag-lgbtq-rights","tag-mauree-turner","tag-montana","tag-state-watch","tag-technology","tag-zooey-zephyr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}