MT: 'Let her speak' : Protesters scream, arrests follow after Speaker doesn't recognize Zephyr

[RandySF]

Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, stood at her seat in the Montana House Chamber with her microphone in the air, while the other representatives evacuated the floor as shouts of “Let her speak!” echoed from protesters in the House gallery above.

Protesters threw gloves covered in fake blood on the House floor Monday as police with batons and helmets made arrests and cleared the House Gallery and dissenters continued to shout.

Zephyr, the first transgender woman elected to the Montana state house, had punched in to speak, and Minority Leader Kim Abbott, D-Helena, stood up, along with fellow Democrats, to say Speaker Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, had not recognized Zephyr.

Monday was the third time Zephyr had requested to speak and not been recognized on the House floor— after not being recognized last week in an event that drew national news.

During the debate last week on Senate Bill 99, a bill to ban gender affirming care for minors, Zephyr said Republicans would have “blood on their hands” if they voted for it, in reference to the high youth suicide rate associated with cutting off access to gender affirming care.

The gloves hitting the House floor were meant to be symbolic of Zephyr’s comments.




https://dailymontanan.com/2023/04/24/let-her-speak-protesters-scream-arrests-follow-after-speaker-doesnt-recognize-zephyr/

[Maraya1969]

1. I read somewhere that they only give hormone blockers to someone in their teens. Which is good

because I believe it is harder to transition after you are flooded with hormones. Not that it can't be done but, for argument's sake say a transgendered girl doesn't go on blockers until after she is grown up. She is going to have a deep voice and maybe an Adam's apple.

[Hekate]

2. That is the case, I believe. The goal is to stop puberty until everything can be sorted out...

Allow the child to gain some more maturity in emotions, brain, etc., get thorough counseling, good docs, etc. What I’ve read makes eminent sense. Don’t do anything that can’t be undone.

Puberty creates huge changes, and for boys the amount of testosterone that floods the bloodstream is staggering. In both boys and girls, bone structure changes, and the face takes on the contours of an adult man or woman. Girls develop breasts and begin to menstruate, which can be terribly distressing to someone whose whole inner being is telling them something else.

I really feel for these kids, and when I read about the parents who are trying so hard to do the right thing for their children in the face of such bigotry, fear, hatred, and lies — I could just weep.