[00:00:03]
Host: For the LGBTQ community, state legislatures have turned into battlegrounds. But the front line of that battle looks very different depending on where you live. As we mentioned, the Human Rights Campaign says this year we’ve seen 520 plus anti LGBTQ bills introduced at the state level. Of those, more than 220 specifically target transgender and nonbinary people. Zooey Zephyr, a Democratic representative in Montana, was censured after she spoke out about a bill that banned gender affirming care for minors.
[00:00:37]
Zac Raasch: If you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.
[00:00:47]
Host: While some states push for restrictions, others are putting protections in place. Joining me to discuss those two opposing realities, two transgender trailblazers in state government, representative Zephyr, who we just saw speaking, and Minnesota state Representative Lee Finke, that state’s first openly transgender state lawmaker, and the chief author of a trans refuge bill welcoming those seeking gender affirming health care. Thank you both for joining us. Representative Zephyr, I want to start with you. You were censured because you told lawmakers they had blood on their hands. They felt that comment cross the line. Do you have any regrets at all about what you said there?
[00:01:28]
Zac Raasch: When I stood up on that bill to speak about it, I was talking to real harm that these types of bills bring. We know that trans youth who access gender criminal care have a 73% reduction in suicidality. I know the impact these bills have, and I was holding the Republicans accountable for trying to pass legislation like this. I have no regrets in doing so.
[00:01:51]
Host: Representative Finke, on the flip side, minnesota’s governor signed your bill, which made Minnesota a trans refugee state. Explain to us, what exactly does this law do?
[00:02:03]
Leigh Finke: Yes. So the trans refuge law is meant to protect people who are receiving or seeking gender affirming care in states that have outlawed access to that care. And this bill says, if you come to the state of Minnesota to receive that care, we will shield you from the laws of your state that would seek to prosecute you. When we started this in January, there were eight states that had banned gender affirming care. By the time we passed it, there were eleven, including three of our bordering states north Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa. So it’s a desperate need for our community to be able to envision a place where they can receive care, where they can have their transition related health care not interrupted, and continue to live the lives that all people simply want to live with access to health care.
[00:02:54]
Host: So, Representative Finke, to the critics who were against this who say that this undermines parental rights, what’s your response to that?
[00:03:03]
Leigh Finke: Removing access from children undermines parental rights. Providing health care options to everyone is a way that we not only as Representative Zephyr said, keep our children alive and healthy, but it allows families to have the autonomous decisions that we want families and parents to be making with their children.
[00:03:24]
Host: Representative Zephyr, when you heard what Minnesota was doing, what went through your mind? What was your reaction?
[00:03:30]
Zac Raasch: Two things. One, it is nice to see what health care can look like when a state decides to take the step to protect trans people who need access to the care. But the other thing I see is when you see such harmful legislation coming into states like Montana, so much so that states like Minnesota are passing, as Representative Finke said, refugee laws, that distinction between the states points to me that, one, we need states doing that in this moment. But two, we need federal action because we need a cross the country solution that will take care of the trans people who need access to our health care to live half happy and fulfilling lives.
[00:04:11]
Host: Representatives Zephyr and Finke, thank you both for joining us for this important conversation. We appreciate it.
