Montana House endorses transgender bathroom ban affecting fellow lawmakers

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Montana’s Republican-controlled House on Wednesday endorsed a ban on transgender people using bathrooms in public buildings that do not align with their sex assigned at birth — a change that would complicate daily life for two fellow lawmakers.

The move comes a month after Montana legislators rejected a more narrow rule that would have kept transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr out of women’s restrooms in the state Capitol on the heels of her return from a legislative exile.

Zephyr and nonbinary Rep. SJ Howell pleaded with their GOP colleagues to reject the proposal and to stop labeling trans people as a threat to women without evidence supporting the claim.

A dozen other states already have variations of bathroom bans on the books, many directed at schools. Even more states, including Montana, have passed laws to ban gender-affirming medical care for trans youth and keep trans girls out of girls sports.

“Trans people walk through the state of Montana afraid enough already,” Zephyr said. “Leave trans people alone. Let me be the woman I’m happy to be. Let me live my life.”

Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, a Republican sponsoring the bill, insisted that it’s not meant to be exclusionary but to preserve safe spaces for women.

“Women should not have to sacrifice their privacy or safety because of cultural trends,” Seekins-Crowe said.

Republicans pushed through the bill in a 58-42 party-line vote over strong Democratic opposition. The measure faces a final House vote before it heads to the GOP-controlled state Senate.

Montana’s Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has supported previous measures directed against transgender people.

Under the bill, trans people could not use restrooms, changing rooms and sleeping areas that align with their gender identity in public buildings, schools, prisons, jails and programs for domestic violence victims.

People could sue a facility for not preventing transgender people from using a certain restroom or changing room. But they could recover only nominal damages, generally $1. The entity could be required to pay the plaintiff’s legal fees, though.

Zephyr warned the legal component of the bill might lead someone to accost a person who they don’t think is “woman enough,” which she said could be dangerous for everyone using public facilities.

The representative from Missoula made her long-awaited return to the House floor this month nearly two years after Republican colleagues silenced and sanctioned her. She was last permitted to speak in the chamber in April 2023, when she refused to apologize for saying some lawmakers would have blood on their hands for supporting the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Courts have put that ban on hold.

Zephyr was reelected in November. Her exile technically ended when the 2023 session adjourned, but the Legislature did not meet last year.

The Montana measure follows a similar move in Congress after the election of its first trans member, Delaware Rep. Sarah McBride. House Speaker Mike Johnson this month quietly renewed a rule he first endorsed in November that prevents McBride from using women’s restrooms near the House chamber.

Some Montana Republicans, including state Rep. Brad Barker of Red Lodge, voted for the bill despite concerns that they hoped would be remedied in the Senate.

“I am concerned about a couple of provisions in this bill that may actually make women feel less comfortable,” Barker said. “I’m concerned about enforceability of the bill and unknown liability.”

Howell, of Missoula, argued the bill would create less privacy and more property taxes as the state would have to find ways to enforce the law and pay to retrofit more restrooms to be gender-neutral.

“I think we’ve gotten a little sideways about what Montana values really are … love thy neighbor, mind thy business,” Howell said. “This bill does neither.”