Helena, Montana — The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — condemned today’s vote in the Montana House of Representatives to prohibit Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender lawmaker who has spoken out repeatedly in recent days over legislative efforts to erase and marginalize transgender Montanans under state law, from speaking on legislation and to ban her from the House of Representatives for the remainder of the current legislative session.

Today’s vote is the latest in a series of efforts by increasingly aggressive, extremist politicians who want to silence dissenting voices. Just three weeks ago, Tennessee Republicans voted to expel two Black lawmakers for protesting in favor of gun violence prevention. In March, Republicans in Oklahoma voted to censure Rep. Mauree Turner, a Black, Muslim, non-binary state legislator, and then advanced a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in that state.