The swift punishment brought down on Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender lawmaker in Montana, began over words that others in American politics have used without hesitation or consequence: saying opponents have “blood” on their hands.
“I don’t remember until now that there’s been a controversy over that cliche,” said Republican Lou Barletta, a former Pennsylvania congressman who used the same words to attack the state’s Democratic governor in 2021 over nursing homes. “I’ve never had anyone make a huge issue out of it.”
The fallout began April 18, when Zephyr made a reference to the body’s opening prayer while speaking against what is part of a wave of Republican efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights across the country this year. “So you say what is on your heart, which is this bill is going to kill people, and if you vote for it, you are complicit in that,” she said.When Texas Democrats broke quorum in 2021 in protest of new voting laws, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott fumed that their absence was also stopping passage of a crime bill. “The Democrats have blood on their hands for failing to step up and do their job,”When Alabama last year moved toward ending state permits to carry concealed handguns, then-state Rep.
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