Montana’s state legislature has advanced a bill banning trans people from restrooms aligning to their gender identity. While such a bill has sadly become commonplace in red states, one Republican lawmaker has gone to exceptionally bizarre lengths to characterize trans people as predators.
On Monday, the Montana House Judiciary Committee voted 12-8 along party lines to advance House Bill 121 to a general House floor vote. The bill would apply to all publicly funded institutions, including government buildings, hospitals, city parks, schools, correctional facilities, domestic violence shelters, and much more.
Rep Zooey Zephyr, who was removed from the House floor for her opposition to a gender-affirming care ban, fought the bill within the committee, alongside fellow transgender representative SJ Howell.
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Opponents hounded Republicans over the issue of enforcement. In practical terms, there’s no clear way for building personnel to identify whether someone is in the ‘wrong’ bathroom without invasive physical, medical or document investigations. According to Erin in the Morning, Zephyr pointed out that the bill’s sponsor (Rep Kerri Seekins-Crowe) “had not spoken with the impacted organizations.”
“Nobody should have to produce a birth certificate to use the bathroom… Nobody should have to take a blood test to use the bathroom,” Howell added. “This is ridiculous.”
One of the few Republicans who bothered to address these concerns did so through a strange rant. Rep Jedediah Hinkle argued that transgender women represent a safety threat based solely on the fact that some are also attracted to women.
Hinkle shared a story of a trans woman he once knew (misgendering her throughout) and proceeded to explain the concept of trans lesbians like some unheard of phenomenon. “The interesting thing about it, [she] was emphatically clear that [she] was not attracted to men, [she] was attracted to women. So we have an individual who is dressing like a woman, changing [their] name to a woman, but is also at the same time attracted to women.”
Hinkle then told a half-remembered story about a janitor somewhere who admitted after arrest to listening to women use the restroom. What do these two stories have in common? Apparently, the fact that both predators and trans lesbians exist in the world means that all trans people should be treated as potential predators under the law. Hinkle didn’t mention what this would mean for cis lesbians (assuming he has heard of that concept).
“Maybe there could be some troubles in proving or prosecuting,” he admitted, “but I see this bill as a deterrent.”
Now that HB 121 has moved beyond committee, it will be debated on the House floor. If it passes, it will take immediate effect upon signature from the governor.
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