Montana Is Poised to Become the First State to Hear an Anti-Trans Bill in 2025

In 2025, the targeting of transgender people in bathrooms has emerged as a top Republican priority. Following the 2024 election, Congresswoman Nancy Mace launched an aggressive hate campaign against the first transgender congresswoman, Sarah McBride. Over several days, Mace posted hundreds of demeaning comments about McBride on social media, demanding that she be banned from using women’s restrooms. Her efforts culminated in Speaker Mike Johnson adopting a policy barring McBride from using such restrooms. Now, Montana Republicans are taking this crusade even further: they have announced that one of the first bills to be considered in 2025 will be a bathroom ban for transgender adults in public buildings. If passed, the legislation could have profound consequences for the state’s two transgender elected officials, Representatives SJ Howell and Zooey Zephyr, as well as all transgender people in the state.

The bill, House Bill 121, was introduced by Republican Kerri Seekins-Crowe, who once stated that she would not allow her child to transition if it would prevent their suicide. It has garnered 35 co-sponsors — a significant portion of Montana’s Republican Party. If enacted, it would rank among the most extreme bathroom bans in the country, prohibiting transgender individuals from using restrooms that match their gender identity in all publicly owned facilities across the state.

Notably, the bill’s scope covers all “public buildings,” defined as any facility “owned or leased by a public agency.” This broad definition extends to rest stops, public colleges and universities, public schools, libraries, museums, state airports, publicly owned hospitals, park restrooms, and more. The measure would also include Montana’s state capitol building and courthouses.

The bill comes on the heels of a contentious vote by Montana’s Republican rules committee, which narrowly rejected a proposal to bar transgender Representative Zooey Zephyr from using women’s restrooms in the state capitol. During that meeting, Republican David Bedey, one of four Republicans to vote against the measure, expressed skepticism about its utility, stating, “This particular action will have the effect of making people famous in the national news and will not contribute to the effective conduct of our business.” The proposal ultimately failed.

Transgender bathroom bans targeting trans legislators have become a prominent feature of the national political landscape. One of Speaker Mike Johnson’s first actions, driven by pressure from Congresswoman Nancy Mace, was to bar transgender individuals from using bathrooms in United States House buildings — a move aimed directly at Representative Sarah McBride. Mace, who has used slurs against transgender sit-ins and consistently misgendered McBride, escalated her attacks Monday by posting on social media, referring to the congresswoman as “a man in a suit with makeup.” Though the rule was not in the rules package passed by the United States House, Johnson clarified that it will indeed be in effect and enforced as he “controls the facilities.”

Mace has announced a similar federal bill that would ban transgender individuals from using bathrooms matching their gender identity on all federal properties, a measure with potentially far-reaching consequences. If enacted, the ban would apply to national parks, cultural landmarks such as the Smithsonian Museums, the National Gallery of Art, and the National Zoo, as well as military bases, VA hospitals, federal government buildings, and major DC-area airports like Dulles and Reagan.

Bathroom bans have tremendously negative impacts on transgender people. In some lawsuits, it has been revealed that such bans have led to UTIs and medical issues for trans people who have been forced to hold their pee for extended periods of time. They force transgender men into women’s restrooms and transgender women into men’s restrooms, which often leads to far more disruption and discomfort by all parties involved. Even when complying with the law, transgender people are often faced with violence, such as in Ohio when the owner of a campground told a transgender man that he was to use the ladies room because he was assigned female at birth. He complied with this demand and went to the women’s restroom. On doing so, other campers accused him of being a transgender woman and proceeded to beat him.

Cisgender individuals are unlikely to avoid the repercussions of such laws either. These policies often disproportionately target gender-nonconforming cisgender people, who are mistakenly accused of being transgender. For instance, cisgender women with short hair are frequently singled out. An example from Las Vegas highlighted this issue when a woman was harassed in a bathroom after being falsely accused of being transgender, leading to police involvement. Video of the incident quickly went viral.

The Montana bill is particularly notable for being one of the first anti-trans measures to be considered in 2025 — a year already shaping up to be especially challenging for transgender people as Republicans nationwide appear to be prioritizing the issue. Montana’s legislature, which convened on Monday, is set to hold its first hearing on the bill in the House Judiciary Committee this Friday. Nationally, the focus on anti-trans legislation is also prevalent: the very first bill listed in the House rules package seeks to ban transgender athletes from sports, and over 140 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have already been introduced across the country in the opening days of the 2025 legislative session.

The bill will be heard at 8:00 AM in the House Judiciary Committee in Montana, broadcast live. Readers in Montana can contact their legislators using a lookup tool provided by Datamade.

This piece was republished with permission from Erin In The Morning.