The Next AOC: How Zooey Zephyr took over the National Spotlight of Performative Politics, the HRT Market & The Makings of a New Pharmaceutical Scandal
How Zooey Zephyr is helping House Republicans and Democrats push the envelope of performative politics by turning nuanced issues into an endless culture war.
‘Exiled Trans Lawmaker Zooey Zephyr Sues Montana’s GOP Leadership’ reads a headline of Rolling Stones Magazine; ‘Why Rep. Zooey Zephyr's Free Speech Lawsuit is Unprecedented’ says Time Magazine; the ACLU ‘Condemns Baseless Censure of State Rep. Zooey Zephyr’; and a ‘Judge Rejects Montana Lawmaker’s Effort to Return to House Floor’ declares the New York Times. ‘Zooey Zephyr, Montana’s First Trans Lawmaker, Speaks Out After Being Banned & Silenced by Republicans’ explains a headline of Democracy Now; and ‘Zooey Zephyr Fires Back as Judge Rejects Her Return to Montana House Floor’ proclaims Newsweek.
What we are currently seeing is the beginning of a new media wave framing Zooey Zephyr, representative in the 100th District of the Montana House of Representatives, as the most censored person in America.
But even more interesting than who is being eulogized as a fighter for free speech by outlets like Newsweek, Democracy Now, Rolling Stone and Time Magazine - is who is not. Most notably, Omali Yeshitela, leader of an American-based Socialist & African Internationalist Group called Uhuru: was recently charged with ‘election meddling’ and ‘spreading Vladimir Putin’s propaganda’ after being arrested in a dramatic FBI raid; just for speaking out against the war effort. Yeshitela, along with 3 others who were unarmed and arrested at gunpoint by federal officers; have barely made any headlines in Newsweek or Rolling Stone for being silenced or censored; and have denied any Russian influence. Neither has notable publisher Julian Assange, who is still battling a 20 year-long battle against extradition to the United States where he is wanted on criminal charges; just for publishing leaked information about the Iraq war.
Adding to this, a new crop of anti-war activists that have been kicked out of town halls, think tanks and news outlets for asking questions about the war have recently spoken out. Most recently, Jose Vega, Bronx activist and Youtube host of a channel called Declaring Independence, was both ridiculed and knocked down at a press conference for daring to mention the war in Ukraine to a room full of New York Times, Washington Post and other journalists; as well as to the Dean of Columbia University’s School of Journalism.
So what do we know about Montana representative Zooey Zephyr, the latest progressive democrat with a knack for hyperbole, most well-known for a fiery speech on Montana’s House Floor where she accused Montana Republicans of having ‘blood on their hands” and proclaiming “If you are forcing a trans child to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture, and this body should be ashamed”. The subject at hand was a bill banning the administration of Hormone Replacement Therapy and surgical care for trans teens.
We know that Zephyr worked at the University of Montana’s biology program, where she was a Program Manager overseeing the university's curricula. We know that the University of Montana’s Center for Translational Medicine helps students work with industry-leading researchers on studies to develop everything from a COVID-19 vaccine to treatments for opioid addiction. We know that translational medicine refers to a process that is aimed at expediting the development and commercialization of known therapies, leading to more rapid validation of new products and reducing costs associated with preclinical testing. Unfortunately, because she was sworn just recently in as a Montana house representative on January 2, 2023, there is still no public information about donations to Zephyr’s campaign on OpenSecrets, a website that tracks political campaign donations and recipients.
We know that her website touts support for work on issues as diverse as housing inequality, climate change, infrastructure development, and healthcare, but that she is only well known for passionately battling republicans on the House floor on bills related to healthcare for trans teens. We know that her first introduction to activism was confronting Republican Governor Greg Gianforte in 2020, when she attended a hearing to oppose legislation making it difficult for transgender individuals to update birth certificates. Finally, we know that unlike other trans women like Melinda Butterfield, trans women and editor of The Struggle, she has been completely silent on the drive towards a new World War.
But even more interesting than Zooey herself, is what we know about the Hormone Replacement Therapy market in general. Though negatively affected by a widespread global shortage during COVID-19, it is projected to grow from $14.17 billion in 2021 to $21.49 billion in 2028. Hormone replacement therapy, which is used to treat thyroid disorders, a rise in male hypogonadism (not enough testosterone produced in the body), and estrogen imbalances in pre and post-menopausal women, is also used as treatment for gender dysphoria.
Hormone Replacement Therapy treats the effects, not the causes of hormonal imbalances in cis individuals. Preventive care cannot be solely addressed by pharmaceuticals, as prevention includes addressing environmental causes like increased exposure to xenoestrogens in our water and food products; diminishing the use of growth hormone in the beef and cattle industry to increase yield, decreasing our use of modified soy, which mimics phytoestrogen and has an effect on hormonal balance; producing products free of sulfates, parabens, & phtalates from plastic packaging - and keeping an eye on a slew of other chemicals and xenoestrogens found in our soap, shampoos, hair products, detergents and cleaning products that we are exposed to via skin-contact - all proven to have an effect on health conditions ranging from reduced testosterone in men to fibroids, ovarian cysts, thyroid problems and other hormonal imbalances.
Though HRT has the potential to help both trans-identifying individuals and other patients with hormonal imbalances, the administration of HRT comes with both significant benefits and risks. Like all medical decisions, we cannot take a political approach to determining whether a medication will generate a positive effect. And at a time when mandates for the COVID-19 vaccine have violated the principle of informed consent and the public’s trust - and where we are just starting to understand the long-term cardiovascular side effects of the vaccine - it is especially important to not be swayed by right vs. left politics when understanding the application of HRT. And as with the COVID-19 vaccine, where a mountain of evidence on side effects like myocarditis and pericarditis was minimized for years before mounting evidence made it acceptable to talk about in mainstream media. By then, the damage had already been done - with the right to well-informed consent being reduced to a side issue in the ruthless campaign to rapidly commercialize new therapies.
According to Endocrinology Advisor, data suggested transgender women using exogenous estrogen had a greater risk for thromboembolic events than cisgender women than the general population, but their risk was similar to that observed in cisgender women taking exogenous estrogen. In transgender men, CSHT (cross-sex Hormone Therapy), particularly with testosterone, is associated with worsening cardiovascular risk factors, such as increased blood pressure, insulin resistance, and lipid derangements, but not with increases in cardiovascular morbidity or mortality.
Among post and pre-menopausal women, there is already consensus in the medical community that the external application of hormones through creams or estrogen patches - though still dangerous for individuals at risk of blood clots, heart disease or breast cancer - is now viewed as far less dangerous than estrogen or testosterone pills, which are routinely prescribed to trans people. And while cis individuals with hormonal imbalances are more likely to be prescribed HRT later in life, trans identifying individuals could potentially consume hormones their entire lives - which makes it even more important to adequately assess whether the risks of not receiving HRT are greater than the lifelong risks of receiving it.
Unfortunately, no large-scale studies have tracked people who received gender care as adolescents to determine how many remained satisfied with their treatment as they aged and how many eventually regretted transitioning. The studies that have been done have yielded a wide range of findings, and even the most rigorous of them have severe limitations. Some focus on people who began treatment as adults, not adolescents. Some follow patients for only a short period of time, while others lose track of a significant number of patients.
According to a recent article in Reuters, ‘In October, Dutch researchers reported results of what they billed as the largest study to date of continuation of care among transgender youths. In a review of prescription drug records, they found that 704, or 98%, of 720 adolescents who started on puberty blockers before taking hormones had continued with treatment after four years on average. The researchers couldn’t tell from the records why the 16 had discontinued treatment.’ Of particular concern, the 16 that had discontinued treatment had ‘de-transitioned’ - meaning that after years of receiving hormone therapy and/or surgical intervention; these individuals decided to not change their gender at all. And while the The Journal of Adolescent Health found that gender-affirming hormone therapy resulted in lower rates of depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts among older transgender and nonbinary teens; HRT can also be the cause of depression, mood swings, indigestion, nausea, back pain, abdominal pain, headaches, and other side effects among both cis and trans people. Therefore, undertaking HRT without being sure that the benefits will outweigh the risks is not advisable.
And the benefits do not outweigh the risks among de-transitioners, a sub-group of the trans population that transitions to another gender - and then changes their mind. There is still very little long-term research on de-transitioners. Some say they realized only after transitioning that they were homosexual but thought it would be more socially acceptable to transition to a gender that made them heterosexual. Others said sexual abuse or assault made them want to leave the gender associated with that trauma. Many also said they had autism or mental health issues such as bipolar disorder that complicated their search for identity as teenagers.
Furthermore, the lack of long-term studies of the effects of puberty blockers on children as young as 8 or 9 years old is problematic. One side effect to such a practice is a decrease in bone density during treatment. Furthermore, both heterosexual adults and trans people are being encouraged to start Hormone Replacement Therapy much earlier than before - the standard for pre-menopausal women for example, has been reduced to 10 years before the onset of menopause; while trans children are starting to take puberty blockers as young as 13 or 14 when the Endocrine Society’s recommendation is to not do so before the age of 16.
In a damning article called ‘When Transgender Kids Transition, Medical Risks are Both Known and Unknown’, doctors admit that ‘there is no test that can tell whether a child experiencing distress about their gender will grow up to be transgender.’ Furthermore, the use of these medications in children is a relatively new practice, which means that there are no comprehensive studies on their long-term effects.
This all brings us back to the topic of Zooey Zephyr, House representative of the 100th district of Missoula Montana. In an interview with the BBC, she said she stood by her remarks and there was "blood on the legislature's hands" - and that she ‘wasn’t being hyperbolic.’ “When the speaker asks me to apologize for those remarks” - she said “what he's actually asking me to do is to be silent as my community faces real harm and real dangers."
The problem is that she was being hyperbolic - and that the trans community not only faces potential harm from not receiving Hormone Replacement Therapy and surgical care - they also face potential harm from receiving it. And given the fact that the Democratic Party has the strongest ties to pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and Moderna - who are already facing a slew of medical malpractice accusations - this risk is too great to ignore.
Fanning the flames of political polarization - this has become not a left or right issue but an extremely complicated one - with a variety of public concerns that go far beyond confronting traditional gender norms - such as whether these issues can be addressed without public faith in the medical community; or whether more holistic approaches to resolving a gender identity crisis are a better option.
In conclusion: who is Zooey Zephyr? The reality is - we still don’t know. At best, she is a good faith actor, driven by a singular focus and love for the LGBTQ+ community at the expense of all other subjects. At worst, she is the latest representative of a $21.25 billion industry; which includes pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer, Inc., Eli Lilly & Company, Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Bayer AG with a financial stake in hooking younger and younger patients to their medical products.
But most likely: like all of the representatives that keep us hostage in our duopolistic theater, she is just another actor fanning the flames of our political division. Given the fact that there is no public information on her campaign funding or her work at the University of Montana’s Department of Biology - all we can judge her by is her behavior - about the polarizing wedge issues that she chooses to focus on while ignoring others - and by the gargantuan media apparatus driven by periodicals like the New York Times, Newsweek, Rolling Stone Magazine, Time Magazine, CNN and other outlets that insist that she is being censored - while giving her a bigger platform than ever; and while other activists - and most notably - other trans women - are barely given a platform at all.
Either way, it is only a matter of time before she gets a Time Magazine cover.
