HELENA, Mont. —

Montana Republican leaders will vote Wednesday on censuring or expelling lawmaker Zooey Zephyr, a transgender state representative who has been silenced in the House since last week after telling colleagues that if they voted for a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender children they would "have blood on their hands."

On Tuesday night, Zephyr tweeted a letter she received from House leaders informing her of the plan to consider disciplinary action against her during Wednesday's session.

"I've also been told I'll get a chance to speak," Zephyr tweeted. "I will do as I have always done — rise on behalf of my constituents, in defense of my community and for democracy itself."

Montana's House speaker canceled Tuesday's floor session without explanation, the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmaker from Missoula speak unless she apologizes for her remarks last week on a gender-affirming care ban proposal.

Much like events in the Tennessee Statehouse weeks ago — where two lawmakers were expelled after participating in a post-school shooting gun control protest that interrupted proceedings — Zephyr's punishment has ignited a firestorm of debate about governance and democracy in politically polarizing times.

"Republicans are doubling down on their agenda of running roughshod over Montanans' rights — to free expression, to peaceful protest, to equal justice under the law," House Minority Leader Kim Abbott said of the plan to discipline Zephyr.

Zephyr's remarks, and the Republican response, set off a chain of events that culminated in a rally outside the Capitol at noon Monday and seven arrests later that afternoon when protesters packed into the gallery at the Statehouse brought House proceedings to a halt while chanting "Let her speak." The scene galvanized both those demanding she be allowed to speak and those saying her actions constitute an unacceptable attack on civil discourse.

Such a protest won't be allowed to happen on Wednesday. Republican leaders said in the letter sent to Zephyr that the gallery will be closed "to maintain decorum and ensure safety."

Speaker Matt Regier did not take questions on Tuesday or explain why lawmakers were not returning to the floor, but in a brief statement called the disruptions a "dark day for Montana."

"Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules," Regier told reporters. "The choice to not follow the House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied."

Republican Rep. Casey Knudsen, the chair of the House Rules committee, said Tuesday's cancellation gave leadership time to respond to Monday's events. Abbott said she saw leadership's decision to cancel as giving lawmakers "some time to regroup."

Under Regier's leadership, the House has not allowed Zephyr to speak since last week when she said that those who voted to ban gender-affirming care for young people would have "blood on their hands." He and other Republicans said the remark was far outside the boundaries of appropriate civil discourse and demanded she apologize before being allowed to participate in legislative discussions.

The events have showcased the growing power of the Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of right-wing lawmakers that has spearheaded the charge to discipline Zephyr. The caucus re-upped its demands and rhetoric Monday. In a statement they said that Zephyr's decision to hoist a microphone toward the gallery's protesters amounted to "encouraging an insurrection."

Although several protesters resisted law enforcement officers trying to arrest them on Monday, Abbott pushed back at characterizing the activity as violent. She acknowledged it was disruptive, but called the demonstration peaceful. She said public protests were a predictable response to a lawmaker representing more than 10,000 constituents not being allowed to speak and questioned bringing in officers in riot gear to handle the chanting protesters.

"It was chanting, but it absolutely was not violent," she said. "Sometimes extreme measures have a response like this."

There were no reports of damage to the building and lawmakers were not threatened.

On Monday, Zephyr said the seven arrested were "defending democracy" and in an earlier speech said that the sequence of events that followed her remarks illustrated how they had struck a chord with those in power.

"They picked me in this moment because I said a thing that got through their shield for a second," she told a crowd of supporters gathered on the Capitol steps near a banner that read "Democracy dies here."

She said she does not intend to apologize and argued that her "blood on your hands" remark accurately reflected the stakes of such bans for transgender kids.

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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — When you walk into Kaitlyn Mahoney’s house, you’ll notice every shelf is filled with pages and pages of insight. There are hundreds of books, all with a similar purpose.

“One of the things that I’m really committed to is prioritizing stories by and about Black people, Jewish people, fat people, disabled people, as many different marginalization’s and intersections with the queer identify as I can," Mahoney said.

Mahoney is the founder of Under the Umbrella Bookstore. It is an upcoming community bookstore serving the LGBTQIA+ community in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the first of its kind in the area.

Fewer than 1% of small businesses in America are certified as LGBT business enterprises. Now, this new business is joining the ranks to open its own inclusive space.

“Under the Umbrella is meant to flip the entire hierarchy of prioritization so that those stories featuring or about black queers, and trans queers and disabled queers are the most important ones," Mahoney said. “What I envision for Under the Umbrella is a space where people can come and do what I did with yourself and those books and you are learning about yourself. You’re having an experience for and with yourself and that book.”

Mahoney's own experiences with books is what has sent her on this journey of self-discovery.

“I started reading more diversly in general and that’s kind of how I realized how diverse life could be and is, but how diverse it could be for me," Mahoney said. “It made me start questioning what I had been talk about gender and sexuality. Because I grew up in a religion where gender is male and female, and it’s eternal and that’s it, and sexually was either straight or gay and one of those was a bad thing to be. Books is how I really found the language to describe a lot of things I had been feeling, but I just hadn’t let myself just think about.”

Mahoney says this space will be safe for those who have nowhere to go.

“There are a lot of queer youth who desperately need acceptance and love," Mahoney said.

She wants to make sure no one is left behind wondering.

“I can’t even imagine what my life would look like if I would have had that when I was younger. If I had been exposed to the love and acceptance that I desperately needed to help me and myself," Mahoney said.

Members of the community couldn’t agree more.

“I can’t tell you how many people have said those words to me, ‘I wish this space had existed when I was younger," Mahoney said.

People have come together to raise more than $55,000 to make this vision of Under the Umbrella a reality.

“I knew that the space was necessary. I knew that we needed it, but the response from the community has just been amazing," Mahoney said.

Mahoney says Salt Lake City needs businesses like this, but so does every other city. According to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, out of the 28 million small businesses across the country, only 909 are officially certified as LGBT Business Enterprises.

“There are only a handful that are specifically queer, but there are a handful that are very queer focused," Mahoney said.

The NGLCC says businesses like these are a vibrant, essential part of the small business engine that makes the economy run.

“There is nothing like this in Utah and I can’t tell you why, like I don’t know," Mahoney said.

That is why she says books and book stores need to be more inclusive nationally and world wide.

“I found it really hard to go into a general bookstore like your Barns and Noble or your local and that just has a general selection of books was hard to find books that were specifically queer or that showed identities that are everywhere but that you don’t necessarily see in books," Mahoney said.

With a house filled with books and items made by LGBTQ+ individuals ready to sell Kaitlyn is ready to welcome all.

“So, however you identify under the LGBTQIA+ queer umbrella, you are welcome under the umbrella," Mahoney said.