ACLU Sues Montana Over Anti-Trans Law

May 3, 2023

Montana鈥檚 governor, Greg Gianforte, banning gender-affirming treatment for minors this week, just days after Republicans in the state legislature Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the first and only openly transgender state lawmaker, for speaking out against the bill. Gianforte signed the bill even though his own son, who is nonbinary, with his father to veto it.

Meanwhile Rep. Zephyr has against her censure. She was silenced from speaking against the bill after she accused her fellow lawmakers of having in passing anti-transgender bills.

Keegan Medrano, policy director at the , spoke with 大象传媒 Racial Justice and Civil Liberties Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on Rising Up With Sonali about the bill, and why the ACLU supports Zephyr鈥檚 opposition to it.

The views expressed here and on聽Rising Up With Sonali聽do not necessarily reflect the opinion of 大象传媒 Media.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.