Montana transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr on being silenced: "We're elected to have the hard conversations"

A Montana transgender state House member who has been prevented by her Republican colleagues from debating a bill on the House floor that would ban gender-affirming care for minors said Tuesday she sees similarities between her treatment by fellow lawmakers and that of the "Tennessee Three."

"There are no doubt there are connections," state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, speaking from Helena, told CBS News, comparing her situation to that in Tennessee earlier this month, in which two of three Tennessee state lawmakers who had taken part in a gun violence protest in the House chamber — in the wake of the Nashville school massacre — were expelled in a vote. The two have since been reappointed.

"I think what we're seeing is that when marginalized communities, communities who are impacted the most by legislation, rise up and speak to the harm, whether it's me speaking on trans issues, whether it's young Black men speaking on gun violence. Those folks in power, particularly on the far right, do not want to be held accountable for the real harm that these bills bring."