Let me see you save a soul that is impaired

I subscribe to Erin Reed’s newsletter — she’s a trans journalist who is married to Zooey Zephyr, a trans member of the Montana State House. Yesterday Rep. Zephyr, and her non-binary colleague, Rep. SJ Howell, racked up two wins. [gift link]

The first win was against yet another drag queen bill. Now, full disclosure, I love drag. Always tip those queens, they work hard for their art:

Anyway, this bill gave anyone offended by a drag performance the right to sue if they were offended, blah blah blah. It was struck down by a pretty large bipartisan vote. What’s interesting is that a Republican, Sherry Essman, rose to defend Zephyr, to chastise the bill’s sponsor, and to point out that the whole thing was a waste of time.

The bill that Howell rose to fight would have given child protective services the right to remove children from their home if they were transitioning gender. This is so fucking awful. Howell did a great job speaking against the bill, and it, too, went down with 29 Republicans voting against it.

In 2023, Zephyr was censured and her access to the floor of the Montana House was restricted because she said that lawmakers would have “blood on their hands” if they passed a law restricting gender-affirming healthcare. It’s the simple truth.

Yesterday, she and her non-binary colleague won two fights.

Anyway, I thought this was a great story. If you want to see some good politicians working hard and being courageous, the two YouTube videos that Reed embedded in her story are worth a watch.