[00:00:00] Jake Tapper: Now the Montana Freedom Caucus is calling for Zephyr’s censure, claiming she tried to shame the legislative body and used inappropriate language. All the while they referred to, uh, the representative by the wrong pronoun. Plus the Republican House speaker has refused to recognize Zephyr on the house floor since Tuesday.
[00:00:18] The Montana Democratic State lawmaker Zooey Zephyr uh, joins us now. Um, your understanding is that rather than a former censure, a formal censure, the Republican Speaker of the house is just gonna continue to refuse to acknowledge you on the house floor for the rest of the session, so you won’t be able to participate in debate on, on any legislation.
[00:00:35] Is, is that right? And how do you plan to work around it?
[00:00:39] Zac Raasch: Speaker Regier has stated that he’s not gonna recognize me on any legislation regardless of topic. And what I will say is, I was elected on behalf of my constituents to come here and debate bills and have the hard discussions, and I will punch in on every bill that my community would want me to speak on.
[00:00:56] Uh, and what the speaker does with that is, uh, up to him.
[00:01:00] Jake Tapper: So let’s talk about, um, what you said, because I, you know, I think the Montana Freedom Caucus is, is correct that you tried to, you tried to shame the legislative body. I’m not judging whether that was right or wrong, but you definitely were. Why do you think it is tantamount, uh, to torture? Uh, why do you think that lawmakers who vote against allowing trans kids or kids who identify as a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth, uh, having puberty blockers, for example, why would that cause there to be blood on their hands?
[00:01:35] Zac Raasch: So I know as a trans person the joy and how we come alive, uh, when we are allowed to transition. And I know the pain that comes with not being able to transition.
[00:01:48] Um, also in terms of blood on their hands. I have lost several trans friends to suicide this year. I have had trans family members tell me or trans, uh, Montanans and pa their parents tell me about suicide attempts in their family, including one trans teenager who attempted to take her life while watching a hearing on one of these anti-trans bills.
[00:02:12] That’s the impact that this legislation has, and that’s why I rose to defend my community and hold the Republicans accountable for their actions.