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The war on trans people intensifies in Big Sky Country

On April 21, 2023

At 1:21 am

In General

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Congressman Greg Gianforte takes a selfie with Montana State Director Charles Robison and SMT owner Bob Helming. Charles Robison, Montana State Director for USDA Rural Development joined Rep. Greg Gianforte (MT-AL) to announce Southern Montana Telephone Company (SMT) will use a $3.3 million ReConnect Program grant to construct a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Beaverhead County. The 1,688-square-mile service area includes 109 households, 26 farms and ranches, seven businesses and the Grant Fire Station. Improved broadband access in Beaverhead County will make a significant impact on agricultural and small businesses. Farmers and ranchers will be able to monitor their operations in real time and use high-speed internet to buy, sell or trade livestock.

Not too long ago Montana was a state with relatively moderate politics, now it’s dominated by a Republican Party that thoroughly reflects its literally thuggish governor:

Representative Zooey Zephyr took to the floor of the Montana Legislature on Tuesday to make an impassioned plea for her colleagues to reject a bill that would ban transition care for transgender minors, saying that denying such care would be “tantamount to torture.”
“This body should be ashamed,” Ms. Zephyr, a first-term Democrat and the Legislature’s first transgender member, said. “If you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”
The Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, responded by accusing Ms. Zephyr in a letter of “attempting to shame the legislative body” by using “hateful rhetoric.” The letter, which misgendered Ms. Zephyr, called for her to be censured.

This game of one-upmanship where Republican statehouses race to see who can pass the most hateful anti-trans legislation is going to be incredibly ugly.