Transgender lawmaker fights for space in hall
Montana's Zooey Zephyr spent her first day in legislative exile Thursday relegated to a bench in a noisy hallway across from a snack bar outside the state House chambers where she is no longer allowed. Zephyr, a transgender lawmaker from Missoula, defiantly stayed put even after Republicans said she couldn’t be there and a House security officer threatened to move the bench, where she had set up her laptop to vote remotely. The move came as Democrats sought to keep Zephyr’s banishment in plain view and Republicans attempted to defuse a week's worth of nationwide public scrutiny over their unprecedented actions to silence her. As cameras snapped and espresso beans churned in a machine nearby, Zephyr and Democratic leaders promised she would remain in the public eye unless Republicans elected to further limit where she could go in the Capitol.
