Montana Transgender Lawmaker Zooey Zephyr Is Engaged to Her Girlfriend

Author: Christopher Wiggins

As Republican legislatures around the country have attacked transgender Americans and silenced some Democratic lawmakers over decorum violations, one prominent elected official only received one vote yesterday. It was a “yes” vote from her girlfriend after the lawmaker proposed.

Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a Democrat, asked her partner Erin Reed, a trans rights activist and journalist, to marry her on Friday night at a local queer prom.

Zephyr has been in the news frequently over the last few weeks after Republicans in the Montana House voted to bar her physical presence from the legislature until the recently-ended legislative session wrapped up. She’d told her GOP colleagues that banning gender-affirming care for trans youth would leave “blood on their hands.” Republicans in the state succeeded in restricting such care.

At the Queer Prom event in Missoula, Zephyr got down on one knee, according to photos taken at the event and shared by Zephyr.

“Tonight I asked Erin to marry me,” Zephyr wrote in the early morning Saturday. “A year ago, I told Erin that I was looking for a love that felt like home.”

She continued, “I have found that and so much more. I have found my future, my family, and my forever.”

Reed wrote on Twitter that she said yes.

“At Queer Prom tonight, Zooey dropped to one knee and asked me to spend forever with her,” Reed wrote. “I said yes.”

Reed added, “I can think of no better person in this world to stand side by side with. She has made me the luckiest woman alive.”

Last week, Reed and Zephyr were targeted in separate attempted SWATting incidents.

On Tuesday morning, somebody emailed the Montgomery County Police in Maryland, claiming to be in distress and needing help at Reed’s home.

Instead of sending a SWAT team to storm into the residence, police called Reed to make sure she was okay and sent a patrol car to her home for a wellness check, a spokesperson told The Advocate.

In anticipation of something like this happening after discovering her home address was leaked online, Reed contacted her local police department months ago. She let them know of her situation as a prominent transgender target, she said.

Hours later, somebody contacted an FBI tip line and reported an emergency at Zephyr’s Montana home in Missoula. The police department did a welfare check and recognized who she was.

Zephyr had sued the Republican House Speaker to be allowed back into the legislative body personally, but a judge ruled against her citing a lack of jurisdiction.

Zephyr and Reed’s new relationship status continued to be a source of joy on Saturday morning.

“I can get used to this,” wrote Reed on Twitter, along with a photo of Zephyr and her hands sporting purple and red nails and an engagement ring on Reed’s hand.

The couple’s tweets have received nearly 200,000 likes at the time of publication.

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Christopher Wiggins