A judge in the US state of Montana declared a law that seeks to erase the existence of transgender people by defining the term “gender” as narrowly as possible to be unconstitutional.

On June 25, Missoula County District Court Judge Shane Vannatta struck down the law on a technicality in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of plaintiffs who identify as transgender, intersex or outside the gender binary.

The plaintiffs had attempted to challenge the law on the grounds that it denied them legal protection and violated their right to free speech, but Vanatta did not address those allegations.

Instead, he focused on the title of the bill, which he said was misleading because it did not define whether “sex” referred to a person's sex or to the act of sexual intercourse and because it did not indicate that the terms “male” and “female” were defined in the main body of the bill.

Vanatta added that while it was not his job to determine the title of a bill denying transgender identity, he had reasons to repeal the bill because the title did not adequately explain its core theme.

The underlying law was passed last year and is similar to other laws passed in Kansas and Tennessee, as well as an executive order from Oklahoma's Republican governor, Kevin Stitt.

These laws aim to force government agencies and school boards to recognize a person's gender only as the gender assigned at birth, including with regard to pronouns, and to prevent transgender and nonbinary people from entering gender-only spaces that correspond to their biological anatomy at the time of birth.

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Like the other measures, Montana's law defines “male” as “a member of the human species who, during normal development, has XY chromosomes and who, during his life cycle, produces or would produce small, motile gametes or sperm and has a reproductive and hormonal system geared toward the production of those gametes.”

It defines “female” as “a member of the human species who, under normal development, has XX chromosomes and produces, or would produce, relatively large, relatively immobile gametes or eggs during her life cycle and has a reproductive and hormonal system geared toward the production of these gametes.”

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Carl Glimm (R-Kila), was written in response to a 2022 ruling in which a state judge blocked a separate law that would require people to prove they have undergone gender reassignment surgery in order to change the gender marker on their birth certificate.

Although Montana authorities openly opposed the judge's decision, Republicans attempted to circumvent this and similar rulings by removing the concept of transgender identity itself from the law.

“Words matter,” said Sean Southard, a spokesman for Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, who signed the bill. “And this administration is committed to making sure words matter, unlike this judge who apparently needs a dictionary to tell the difference between a noun and a verb.”

Southard told the Associated Press that the governor was proud to have signed the bill, which codifies the “long-standing and widely accepted” definition of “gender.”

Emilee Cantrell, a spokeswoman for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, said her office would continue to defend the law because it “reflects scientific reality.”

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana celebrated the verdict.

“Today’s ruling is an important affirmation of the protections the Montana Constitution provides for legislative initiatives,” said Alex Rate, legal director of the ACLU of Montana.

Republicans in Montana are committed to banning LGBTQ identity from public life and have pushed various anti-gay and anti-transgender laws, but the courts have rejected these efforts. When lawmakers tried to pass a law banning drag performances in public spaces, a federal judge blocked it, saying it was likely a violation of the performers' First Amendment rights.

Similarly, a state judge blocked a Republican attempt to deny transgender minors access to gender reassignment treatments, saying it may be unconstitutional and discriminatory.

When the bill was being debated, Republicans excluded House Representative Zooey Zephyr (D-Missoula) from the bill, responding to a speech in which she suggested that lawmakers would have “blood on their hands” if the ban led to suicide attempts by transgender youth.