By a 68-32 vote, the Montana House of Representatives has barred transgender Democrat activist and state representative “Zooey Zephyr” from the House floor, anteroom, and gallery for the remainder of this legislative session. “Zephyr” can attend House sessions remotely until adjournment next week.

How did we get here?

Just over a week ago, the Montana House of Representatives was debating an important bill. Given that the suicide rate among transgenders who have received “gender-affirming care” is astronomical, some 20 times higher than among their peers, the Montana House was considering a bill to abolish this bizarre pseudo-medical practice on minors. The only transgender in the Montana legislature, “Zooey Zephyr,” from the district representing Missoula, defended the barbaric procedure of child mutilation.

Playing to her base voters, she said:

If you are denying gender-affirming care and forcing a trans child to go through puberty, that is tantamount to torture, and this body should be ashamed. 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.

This is a prototypical leftist line of invective. If you don’t vote the way they want you to vote, then it’s because you are sexist, racist, homophobic, fatphobic, transphobic, phobicphobic, or some other nonsense.

The bill was a righteous one designed to prevent kids who legally can’t provide informed consent from agreeing to irreversible surgery or a lifetime drug regimen that just doesn’t work. “Zephyr,” devoid of any medical or logical basis to oppose the bill, resorted to insults to bully “her” colleagues into submission. It didn’t work out terribly well.

My colleague Bonchie covered the initial reaction from the legislature here: Transgender Lawmaker Shut Down After Railing in Support of Child Mutilation.

When the legislature refused to allow “Zephyr” to speak for violating House rules, the usual mob of winged monkeys appeared to try to shut down proceedings. One might almost say it was like an insurrection, except these were little Leninists instead of Americans.

“Zephyr” actively cheered the insurrectionists on.

See my colleague Nick Arama’s overview of the Star Wars cantina crowd disrupting the operations of the Montana House: WATCH: 7 Arrested as Trans Activists Disrupt Montana Legislature and Bring Proceedings to Halt.

The winged monkey brigade’s assault on democracy may not have worked out the way Zephyr had imagined. Tuesday, “she” was notified that a vote was planned for today that could result in her being either censured or expelled from the Montana House.

When given a chance to explain “her” actions, “Zephyr” told her colleagues they could take a long walk off a short pier.

In one way, this is not a big deal. “Zephyr” is still in the House. The session ends in a week, so the penalty “she” suffered is minimal. I can’t imagine Montana is any the worse for being deprived of “her” blinding wit and trenchant insights.

This is an odd bookend to the Tennesse incident in which two Democrat representatives were expelled for aiding and abetting another insurrection in the Tennessee House. In both cases, Democrat politicians were guilty of blatant, in-your-face violations of established rules of behavior. In both cases, a GOP House majority acted to discipline the malefactors, but they did so in the most pusillanimous way possible. The Tennessee House readmitted the expelled members after they were reappointed by the governing bodies of the districts they were elected from (Metro Nashville and Shelby County). My colleague Jeff Charles got it right, Tennessee Republicans’ Political Stunt Has Led to a Whole Lot of Nothing. In this case, “Zephyr” will miss a week of jabbering about trans-this and trans-that and return next session. From “her” demeanor, all “she” learned was that there are no consequences for bad faith actors.

If Republicans in statehouses around the country want to do much more than beclown themselves, they have to start imposing penalties that have an impact. In the case of Tennessee, the House could have taken action to change rules concerning the reappointment of expelled members. It didn’t. In Montana, particularly after “Zephyr’s” defense of “her” actions today, expulsion would have been perfectly warranted. Instead, all “she” got was a mild timeout. Instead of bringing unruly members who are hostile to the idea of rules to heel, all that has happened is that we’ve given them models to emulate.

Full Floor Session