Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr sues to regain the ability to speak in the legislature

• Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr is suing the state, House speaker, and sergeant-at-arms.
• The lawsuit seeks to reverse the restrictions placed on her by the GOP-led legislature in April.

Democratic Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr is suing the state, the speaker of the Montana House, and the state sergeant-at-arms in an emergency attempt to reverse the stipulations of her recent censure.

Assisted by attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, Zephyr filed the complaint on Monday after the Republican-led legislature voted to remove her from the House floor, stripping away her ability to speak about issues and bills at hand.

"This effort by House leadership to silence me and my constituents is a disturbing and terrifying affront to democracy itself," Zephyr said in a press release. "House leadership explicitly and directly targeted me and my district because I dared to give voice to the values and needs of transgender people like myself. By doing so, they've denied me my own rights under the Constitution and, more importantly, the rights of my constituents to just representation in their own government."

Zephyr is joined in the lawsuit by four of her constituents in Montana's 100th House District, who claimed in the lawsuit that the legislative body's decision to bar her from the House floor and prevent her from speaking disenfranchised their community.

"As long as Representative Zephyr is denied her rights to debate with her colleagues and speak on the floor, I am deprived of a voice in the Montana House," said one constituent named in the lawsuit. "I know that the legislature, in its final days, will deliberate on issues of great importance to me, including our state budget. By enforcing this action, the Montana House has denied representation and voice to me and all of my fellow constituents in House District 100."

In a statement to Insider, press secretary for Montana's attorney general, Emily Flower, called the lawsuit "performance litigation – political activism masquerading as a lawsuit."

"The ACLU is trying to use the courts to interfere with the legislature as it carries out its constitutional duties on behalf of Montanans," Flower said. "Any relief granted by the court would be a gross violation of the separation of powers."

The Montana House's vote to censure Zephyr arose after a group of protestors filled the gallery of the Montana House and interrupted business with chants after Montana House Speaker Matt Regier refused to recognize Zephyr on the floor. He chose not to recognize her after Zephyr refused to apologize for an impassioned speech she gave on the floor where she shamed the Republican caucus for pushing a bill restricting youth access to gender-affirming care.

"If you vote yes on this bill, I hope the next time there's an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands," Zephyr said in April.

On April 28, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation, Senate Bill 99, which goes into effect on October 1. In addition to pleas from Zephyr, Democrats in the legislature, and advocates, Gianforte's nonbinary child personally lobbied their father in an attempt to stop him from signing it, as well. Gianforte signed it nevertheless.

While Zephyr can't speak on the House floor due to the terms of her censure, she's had time to speak to constituents in Missoula, who showered her with support upon her recent return to the district.

Regier did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.