Colorado House condemns now-former lawmaker who took and shared photo of colleague for ridicule

The Colorado House voted Tuesday to condemn the conduct of a now-former legislator who surreptitiously photographed a Democratic colleague and shared it in a private Republican group chat, where more lawmakers ridiculed her clothing.

“A number of you made comments about my appearance in that chat,” Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat, told her Republican colleagues from the House floor before the resolution was passed. “You called me a stripper and a prostitute. Some of you sat silently by. You are complicit, too.”

The lopsided vote served as a public reprimand of Ryan Armagost, a Berthoud Republican who resigned from the legislature last week after Democratic leadership announced plans to pursue his censure.

In April, Armagost photographed Zokaie, who was wearing a dress and knee-high boots, on the House floor. Republican colleagues made crude comments in the group chat, and the photo was also quickly shared on social media, where people made sexual and degrading comments.

All but three lawmakers voted Tuesday for the resolution condemning Armagost.

One lawmaker who opposed it, Republican Rep. Ken DeGraaf, compared the vote to a “lynching.” Fellow Republican Rep. Brandi Bradley also voted no, and GOP Rep. Stephanie Luck asked to be excused from the vote.

Zokaie said she faced a torrent of threats as the image spread online, including one that referenced her children’s school and its pickup time. She said she knew that speaking up about it would likely worsen that harassment.

“But it will not silence me. It will not dictate how I dress. It will not stop me from doing my job,” she said. “I refuse to sit down and stay silent because this kind of conduct does not just target me. It sends a message to women in politics everywhere — to stay out, to stop speaking out and to not run in the first place. And that is exactly why we have to stand against it.”

Armagost, who had planned to leave the legislature on Sept. 1 — until he made his resignation immediate on Friday — declined to comment last week. On social media, he wrote that he would “take the hit” and resign.

Republicans’ private comments and ridicule of Zokaie in the spring were first reported by Colorado Public Radio earlier this month.

As she spoke Tuesday, Zokaie was flanked by Democratic House colleagues, many of whom were wearing purple, which symbolizes domestic violence awareness. Senate Democrats lined one wall in the House.

In a show of respect, Republicans also stood as Zokaie spoke.

Zokaie criticized Armagost for resigning and leaving “the chamber less safe and less honorable than when he found it.” She also criticized Republican leadership, who were in the private chat, for not intervening or telling her who had taken the photo.

After Zokaie and Democratic leaders spoke, Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, the top Republican in the House, took to the floor and said that lawmakers “must do better to preserve the integrity of the institution.”

“I am sorry that this happened to you,” she told Zokaie.

But Pugliese denied having seen the messages, and she said she told Monica Duran, the Democratic majority leader, that Armagost took the photo in April. Republican staff also distributed a copy of an April records request for security footage that revealed Armagost had taken the photo.

Pugliese said she’d addressed the photo within her caucus, and she accused Duran of concealing Armagost’s role in the incident because Duran and Armagost were sponsoring legislation together.

That accusation prompted an audible protest from Democratic lawmakers. Zokaie shook her head, and Duran stood up to more clearly face Pugliese.