ACS Condemns Censure of Montana Legislator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez, media@acslaw.org

Washington, DC – In a party-line vote, the Montana House of Representatives censured Representative Zooey Zephyr, the state’s first openly trans legislator, after she spoke out against anti-trans legislation. In response to the censure, American Constitution Society President Russ Feingold released the following statement:

“We resoundingly condemn the partisan and discriminatory censure of Rep. Zooey Zephyr by the Montana House of Representatives’ majority. Make no mistake, Rep. Zephyr is being penalized - and barred from the floor of the legislative body to which she was duly elected for the duration of the session - for being a trans woman and for speaking up for her community, in support of civil rights, and against the dangerous campaign underway to erase trans people from public life. This censure is a grotesque abuse of majority power.

Today’s censure of Rep. Zephyr and the two recent expulsions of Reps. Jones and Pearson in Tennessee, all three of marginalized identity, should send shock waves through everyone in this country who believes in democracy and is committed to ensuring we remain one. The censure and expulsions are acts of authoritarianism, wherein people in power oppress those with whom they disagree and those whose power they fear.”

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY 
The American Constitution Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others, our mission is to support and advocate for laws and legal systems that strengthen our democratic legitimacy, uphold the rule of law, and redress the founding failures of our Constitution and enduring inequities in our laws in pursuit of realized equality. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org or on Twitter @acslaw.