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Montana governor signs bill banning transgender medical care for youths

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After a transgender lawmaker was expelled from the state legislature, Montana’s governor on Friday passed a Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender children.

On Wednesday, the Republican House majority censured Democrat Zooey Zephyr for suggesting on April 18 that members supporting the bill would have blood on their hands.

Senate Bill 99 cleared the House three days later and Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed it into law on Friday.

Republican lawmakers have sponsored hundreds of proposals to restrict hormone and puberty blocker therapies for transgender youngsters.

Opponents of transgender healthcare interventions believe their long-term implications are unknown and that children and teenagers are too young to make such life-altering decisions, even with parental oversight.

Zephyr, a first-term Missoula lawmaker, said limiting gender-affirming care to children who feel at odds with their natal sex was “tantamount to torture” and would increase suicides.

Republican House leaders first muted Zephyr’s floor speech. On Monday, Zephyr’s fans chanted “Let her speak!” from the visitors gallery, leading to seven arrests.

LGBTQ activists called for a 24-hour demonstration in Missoula on Friday and Saturday after the party-line 68-32 vote to exclude Zephyr from the House floor, gallery, and anteroom on Wednesday.

White House spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre termed the Montana Republican House action against Zephyr a “denial of democratic values” on Thursday.

The rebuke has been compared to the Republican expulsion of two Black Tennessee state members three weeks earlier for organizing a House floor gun control demonstration. Tennessee legislators were reappointed by county legislatures and visited the White House.

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