"The Crime Is Being Trans": Montana House Passes Indecent Exposure Bill Applying Only To Trans People

House Bill 446 in Montana establishes two indecent exposure laws: one for the general public that requires intent, and another for trans people that does not.

On Friday, the Montana House of Representatives passed an indecent exposure bill, HB446, that effectively creates two separate legal standards—one for transgender people and one for everyone else. Under current law, indecent exposure requires intent, such as deliberately streaking across a field or flashing bystanders. However, this bill removes the requirement of intent when applied to transgender individuals, making it possible to criminalize them simply for existing in certain public spaces.

The bill, introduced to target transgender people in locker rooms, bathrooms, and changing areas, creates a stark legal distinction. For most people, indecent exposure is defined as requiring intent to “abuse, humiliate, harass, violate the dignity of, or degrade another.” However, in a separate section specifically addressing transgender individuals, those words are absent. Instead, indecent exposure is defined simply as “exposing intimate parts” to someone of the opposite sex assigned at birth.

As a result, transgender men who have undergone top surgery could face criminal charges for entering a men’s changing room or taking off their shirts at a pool. Transgender women, even those who have had bottom surgery, could be prosecuted simply for using women’s changing rooms, showers, or other gendered spaces. The law effectively criminalizes transgender people for existing in public life.

The bill was the subject of a hot floor debate. Representative Zooey Zephyr, the state’s first transgender female legislator, delivered a scathing speech opposing the bill: “Member’s of the body, I am getting very, very tired of rising on bills targeting the transgender community, this is the 6th bill I have had to speak on in 24 hours… You have two indecent exposure laws. One, in our existing statute where someone is trying to abuse a person, where someone is trying to get sexual gratification… and you have another indecent exposure law where the crime is being trans.”

“It is going to a gym, which I do regularly by the way, working out, and going to change in a changing room. This law would make the process I do regularly in my hometown of Missoula an indecent exposure law. For the edification of this body, I am a trans woman who has undergone gender reassignment surgery, I have female genitalia. How are they supposed to know? Are they supposed to say ‘oh, I recognize Representative Zephyr, we should target her because she has the audacity to live her life.’ I hope this body would one day leave my people alone.”

You can watch her floor speech here:

Another representative, Representative Pete Elvram, expressed dismay that the bill was even being debated. “What we are asking to do here is make it criminal for someone to just exist and go to the bathroom and not do anything to any other person. Quite simply to just be who they are. As has been mentioned, we have been sitting and listening to these and I’ve been holding my breath… sitting on my hands, wondering at what point will it be enough… when can we just stand up and… man this is enough.”

The bill passed 54-45, with 4 Republicans breaking rank on the bill—the most of any bill so far in Montana this session. It advances to third reading today, whereupon if it passes, it will move to the Senate for further debate.

Editors Note: The author of this article is the loving wife of Representative Zooey Zephyr.