Montana bans gender-affirming care for minors after transgender lawmaker censure

Montana became the latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors on Friday following controversy that saw the state House censure one of the state’s first openly transgender lawmakers. 

Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed the bill into law after it comfortably passed the state House and Senate earlier this month. His signature makes Montana one of 17 states that have passed legislation prohibiting transgender youth from accessing at least some form of gender-affirming care, according to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks state legislation on LGBTQ issues. 

The law states that a person may not provide minors with gender-affirming medical treatments including surgical procedures, doses of testosterone or estrogen or puberty blockers. It includes exceptions for minors who have a “medically verifiable disorder of sex development.” 

Medical providers who violate the law could face discipline from the appropriate disciplinary review board and be suspended from practicing medicine for at least a year. The parents or guardians involved in the minor receiving care could also be subject to civil action. 

Gianforte signed the bill despite lobbying against it from his son, who identifies as gay and nonbinary and uses “he” and “they” pronouns. David Gianforte told the Montana Free Press that they met with the governor last month to urge him to not sign the bill, saying they “felt somewhat of an obligation to speak with him about it.” 

Gianforte had said in a letter accompanying amendments he recommended to the bill earlier this month that it “protects Montana children from permanent, life-altering medical procedures until they are adults, mature enough to make such serious decisions.”

The bill’s signing also came after the Montana House voted to censure state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), preventing her from being present on the House floor and in the anteroom and gallery for the rest of the session. Zephyr was censured over a comment she made against the gender-affirming care ban, telling those who supported the bill that they would have “blood on your hands” if it passed. 

The Montana Freedom Caucus, made up of Republicans in the state House and Senate, denounced her for using “inappropriate and uncalled-for language.” 

The censure was approved on a party-line vote.

Zephyr condemned the bill’s signing as being as “cruel as it is unconstitutional.” She predicted that it would be struck down in the court system. 

“There’s an understandable inclination towards despair in these moments, but know that we are going to win and until then, lean on community, because we will have one another’s backs,” she said to transgender youth. 

The bill is set to take effect on Oct. 1.