Good news from Montana: the legislature was flooded with anti-trans laws, but they’ve all been defeated. They failed because a few eloquent trans advocates stood up and persuaded 29 Republicans to change course. Here’s one of the speeches, this one by Zooey Zephyr, with support by a Republican representative:
“Here I am again to rise on another bill targeting the LGBTQ+ community,” she said, exasperated. “At its very core, drag is art. It is very beautiful art. It has a deep history in this country, and it is important to my community. You know, if you are a woman in this body wearing a suit today, you are in some way challenging gender norms that existed long ago… There were three-article-of-clothing laws 50 years ago that said if you wore three articles of clothing that were indicative of the opposite gender, they could stop you, arrest you… it was those laws that led to the police raiding an LGBTQ+ bar that led to the Stonewall riots, one of the most important civil rights moments in my community’s history,” she began.
“When the sponsor closed on this bill, he said, this bill is needed… and I quote his words… ‘because transgenderism is a fetish based on crossdressing.’ And I am here to stand before the body and say that my life is not a fetish. My existence is not a fetish. I was proud within a month ago to have my son up in the gallery here. Many of you on the other side met him. When I go to walk him to school, that’s not a lascivious display. That is not a fetish. That is my family. This is what these bills are trying to come after… not obscene shows in front of children, we have the Miller test for that, we have laws for that. This is a way to target the trans community, and that is in my opinion, and in the speaker’s own words.”
Then something even more remarkable happened: A Republican, Representative Sherry Essman, rose to defend Rep. Zephyr and chastised the bill’s sponsor. “I’m speaking as a parent and a grandmother. And I’m very emotional because I know the representative in seat 20 is also a parent. No matter what you think of that, she is doing her best to raise a child. I did my best to raise my children as I saw fit, and I’m taking it for granted that my children are going to raise my grandchildren as they see fit,” she began.
“Everybody in here talks about how important parental rights are. I want to tell you, in addition to parental rights, parental responsibility is also important. And if you can’t trust a decent parent to decide where and when their kids should see what, then we have a bigger problem,” she turned to parental rights and spoke about how people who claim those rights should vote against the bill.
And then, she closed by chastising the bill’s sponsor for bringing the bill, “Trust the parents to do what’s right, and stop these crazy bills that are a waste of time. They’re a waste of energy. We should be working on property tax relief and not doing this sort of business on the floor of this house and having to even talk about this.”
There’s more at the link. I also appreciate this criticism of weak Democrats.
At a time when anti-trans bills are sailing through red-state legislatures, many are left wondering how they can be stopped. Some Democrats, like Gavin Newsom, have chosen appeasement—standing alongside anti-trans hate leaders like Charlie Kirk instead of standing up for transgender people. But Representatives Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell offer a different path. As transgender lawmakers in a Republican-dominated government, they have shown that representation, relationships, and the power of speaking truth in hostile spaces can move hearts and minds. Their success is a reminder that even in the most challenging environments, refusing to back down can make a difference.
Huh… Color me surprised. Talk-No-Jutsu worked for a change.
As I’ve said before, Trump and Musk are bullies.
If you fight back, a lot of the time they will back off and go away.
Today, Trump walked back his 25% tariffs again, after Canada and Mexico retaliated with their own tariffs.
He is also reining in Elon Musk after an estimated 90% of the American people complained.
To be sure, the force known as Reality also played an important role. His approval numbers are dropping rapidly, the stock market is crashing, and the US economy is heading into a recession.
This might just be a tactical retreat. Or it might not.
Trump is a cognitively challenged 78 year old man. I don’t see that he has any idea what he is doing or why any more. A tool for the oligarchies and Russians.
His tariffs policy has changed so many times in two months that no one is taking them seriously any more.
Democrats have been inflicted with feebleness. They have been incapacitated. They are unable to stand up to the sick far-right’s assault on certain individual’s rights to freedom of expression. This is being used to manipulate their followers to stir their anger and hate. Powerful emotions that cause blindness when they reach a specific level. Once blinded they can be controlled and made to behave in ways they normally wouldn’t. To see an individual (Zooey Zephyr) appeal to the better senses in these people and convince them otherwise leaves me with hope.
On a side note, the Democrats do not have a plan to end the far-right’s assault on America, I have not seen enough examples of resistance to believe they are capable of saving our transition into a fascist autocracy controlled by the ultra-wealthy. The only vision I see breaking this transition is from the inside, a revolt from those who are riding on riding the train. Maybe the more compassionate of them can somehow get the train to switch the track it is on. Zooey Zephyr has shown it can be done.
I don’t know where the link was supposed to go, but it doesn’t go anywhere. If you want to listen to the whole thing, it’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxZgMBX-Ii8 Worth your time.
Or at least Zephyr’s speech and the woman after her.
You have to trust non-corrupt Republicans in lieu of an opposition party?
The link should be to Erin Reed’s article at https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/powerful-speeches-from-trans-dems
That’s encouraging news. Some balance to the disappointing news from Gov. Newsom. I’m very surprised by his position. When he was mayor of San Francisco he would sometimes be on Dave Morey’s KFOG morning “drive time” show, so I would listen to him…I tend to turn off all politicians. Newsom was clearly a politician but relatively straightforward for such a beast. Dave, being an openly gay man and in a long-term relationship, was fairly direct with his questions to Newsom about LGBTQ+ rights, among other San Francisco issues. I never heard Newsom say anything that wasn’t supportive of those rights, even if he acknowledged the social complexity of some of the issues. Sadly, ambitions change people.
On the tariff pull back, I saw a reel last night which made a point that I’ve wondered about: to what extent is this on-again-off-again tariff thing just insider trading. The people with big money know when he’s about to make a tariff threat and the market will dive, so it’s a time to buy. Then they know when he’s going to pull back the threat, and the markets will head up, so time to sell. They are in the position to play the churn…as is he and Musk…and make lots and lots of money.
@ 8
He’s being term-limited out (there’s talk of Kamla running for CA gov) and he’s obviously has his sights set on the Oval Office. Time to run towards the center because he thinks that he can pick up enough Rust Belt knuckle-draggers and other fickle undecides. As for the rest of the Dems, including Trans voters, well… “Who are you going to vote for? Trump?”
Akira @ #9 — Yep, that’s my sense of what he’s up to. Clearly “vote for me because the other guy is horrible” didn’t work in 2024 or 2016. I would tell him to his face that it’s a lame strategy, if I got the chance. And yes, he’s terming out but with plenty of time to mount a campaign for 2028. Unless the GOP changes the 22nd, which they have threatened to do, the next campaign won’t have Trump in the mix unless Junior runs. So it might be an easy one for Newsom to win if he’s running against JD Vance. (Rumor has it that Trump is grooming Baron for the job, but he’s too young to run…unless the GOP throws the whole Constitution out and establishes a Trump Royal Dynasty.)
Zooey Zephyr is amazing. We need more representatives as passionate, confident and well informed as her.
@ 8, 9, 10 I am not convinced that the 22nd won’t be thrown out and that we won’t have El Dictator For Life.
And yes, I was thinking the same thing about the churn. It’s one way to get enough money to pay off the Russian mobsters.
And fuck Deutsch Bank if they are the launderers. I hope they lose their (brown) shirts in that financial shitstorm.
Weirdly enough, Shady’s Meemaw was okay with gay, at least if it was one of her grandkids. Not the way I would have phrased the question to a 9 year old but still.
Zooey Zephyr is definitely a treasure. Some background for this: a week or so ago, the MT legislature had a huge upheaval. After many years of sticking with the lunatic fringe of the right wing, a substantial number of Republican legislators suddenly decided they had just had enough of not getting anything real or useful done because of BS nonsense like bathroom bills, and in a late night session, pitched in with Dems to pass a number of substantive bills. Rs far outnumber Ds in the MT lege. It’s important to understand that the MT lege only meets for 90 days every 2 years, which means almost all these folks have real jobs and spend most of their time among constituents. Most of those conservatives don’t give a rat’s patootie what other folks do in their bedrooms or what’s in other people’s underwear, on account of none of their business, and they have reached a point where they’re just damn tired of having to talk about it. Old school Montanans judge people mostly on whether they’re the kind of neighbor who would help you dig your truck out of the snow. So, Rep. Essman supported Zephyr for truly conservative reasons – more important things to do, tired of talking about the uncomfortable things the fringe is obsessed with, and besides, I’ve seen Rep Zephyr with her kid and she’s a good parent, and that is what’s really important in a person.
The last few legislative sessions have ranged from awful to horrifying, but this one has been kind of fun, especially since last week. It’s pretty great to see the conservatives stand up to the creepy fringe, for whatever reasons, and I applaud them, even though I’m sure we agree on almost nothing but property tax reform and the creepiness of the jerks obsessed with what’s in other people’s children’s underwear.
That hits hard.
I’m wondering if this sort of thing is a way to address a few of the Trump administration’s crimes. Perhaps a few Republicans in Congress are persuadable on some issues, enough to result in action even if Speaker Johnson doesn’t like it. And perhaps Democrats in Congress ought to be looking for those issues and talking to those moderately non-insane Republicans. Who knows, there might be a few who could rise above the threat of being primaried if they cross the Big Velveeta.