With the risk of former President Trump winning the election November -which would likely result in the rollback of human rights -the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund has been working harder than ever to increase the number of out Queer office holders in the US. Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr -the first openly Transgender person elected to the state's legislature -was a featured speaker at the organization's party in September in Seattle.

"Washington, despite being very liberal, it does not have a Trans woman elected to the legislature, so [I'm] going out and talking to folks and showing them what we in Montana are doing, and hopefully providing inspiration and hope for the Trans folks in the state," Zephyr told the SGN.

Zephyr spent her high school and college years in the greater Seattle area, having grown up in Montana. It was during her time at graduate school back in Missoula that she became a human rights activist, which included filing discrimination claims. Her activism led her to work with the City of Missoula on crafting a human rights policy, as well as become a deescalator, so as to keep antiracism protesters safe from armed counterprotesters.

"What became clear, particularly in late 2020, early 2021, was that so much of grassroots activism is trying to bandage up the wounds created by the government, either government inaction or action," Zephyr said, "and sometimes the harm that comes from government is intentional. There were people in office who wanted to consciously pass policies that hurt certain subsets of our community."

Those wounds, she felt, were coming so fast, she said. After testifying in front of the Montana House and Senate, Zephyr met with the governor's office, where she encountered deaf ears regarding the harm certain legislation would cause Transgender people.

"I watched those bills go through and pass by one vote, and I said, 'If we're going to try to make progress, we need Trans people in the room,'" Zephyr said.

She met with former Sen. Bryce Bennett, the first openly Gay man to serve in the state legislature, and asked if it was the right space for her to advocate, given her skills. Zephyr said he agreed, and she kicked off her electoral campaign.

With the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and "the escalation of the violent rhetoric around LGBTQ people, but also more broadly," Zephyr said, legislators must not back down from tackling the needs of the community.


Preparing for a new president
Zephyr said she is preparing for either a Trump or Kamala Harris presidency and the different realities she'll have to face in the next legislative session depending on who wins the election.

"There's been no shortage of horrifying remarks from the former president about his intent if he were to be reelected -a dictator on day one, I believe was one of his lines," Zephyr said. "For me, when it comes to buffering against someone like the former president who has issued many of our laws -and I believe fallen short of the dignity of the office -my first real goals would be to try to make sure Montana's judicial system is defended."

More recently, Trump announced that, "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had" and that the fascist "did some good things," according to AP News.

During Trump's presidency, he went after state and the federal judicial systems, and Zephyr said in 2023 that she saw many attempts to undermine the nonpartisan courts in Montana and turn them into partisan races, as well as to allow the governor to have more influence over state Supreme Court appointments.

"Those efforts were all defeated last session in Montana. If Trump were to win, I expect to see a redoubling of those efforts, and goal number one would be to ensure that our judiciary can survive another Trump term. That is, of course, in addition to -protecting the Queer community," Zephyr said.

Legislation
Zephyr said she is also excited to push for tenants' rights policies in Montana next year. She mentioned how state legislatures don't pay very much, which attracts legislators who have passive incomes, like landlords.

"You often have people who are retired with decent salaries, or you also have landlords. I believe … half the legislature is landlords," she said, noting how even in best efforts to craft policy legislators deem beneficial, it skews the balance of power.

In the previous legislative session, Zephyr introduced House Bill 552, which would have prohibited the panic defense in criminal proceedings, in which people charged with violent crimes use their victims' sexual orientation or gender identity to strengthen their defense.

"When a defendant uses the LGBTQ+ 'panic' defense, they argue that their violent actions are both explained and excused by their victim's real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The goal of this strategy is to employ homophobia and transphobia to persuade a jury into fully or partially acquitting the defendant," the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association website states. "Whether or not this appeal to bigotry is successful in court, every time a defendant invokes the LGBTQ+ 'panic' defense, they reinforce the dangerous and discredited belief that LGBTQ+ lives are worth less than others."

HB 552 did not pass, but Zephyr said she will make similar efforts in 2025.

When looking at anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Washington, Zephyr said she wished legislators fought "tooth and nail" to ensure that Initiative 2081 didn't pass. It allows parents and legal guardians to receive public school records, like vocation counseling and medical records, and would permit opting out of assignments, questionnaires, surveys, and other student engagement activities relating to a student's sexual experiences and orientation. The citizens' initiative went into effect earlier this June after being passed by the state legislature.

"If you're in a blue state, fight like hell for the best policies you can get," Zephyr said. "When you allow even the seeds of an anti-Queer policy to be planted in your state, maybe you can root it out, but it impacts -red states, where we have to fight with everything we have- Those decisions ripple into our states and cause so much harm."

Zephyr encourages Seattle LGBTQ+ people to take care of each other, as she has seen what she describes as "cruel" policies come out of Seattle City Council, like anti-homelessness policies that disproportionately impact Queer people. Zephyr said the way the unhoused community is treated in Seattle will not make it a safer place for people moving in from out of state. (In Miles City, Montana, Zephyr met a young Queer couple at a gas station who told her that they were saving every penny they had to move out of the state as renters.)

In the meantime, before the 2025 legislative session, Zephyr will marry her fiancée, Erin Reed.