Metro Weekly

Montana hangs onto unconstitutional law that bans gay sex

”Keeping an unenforceable law on the books that has been struck down as unconstitutional simply doesn’t make sense. Like the bipartisan majority in the Senate, I’m hopeful that Republicans and Democrats in the House will join together to get rid of this outdated law that holds our state back.”

Steve Bullock, described by KXLH as Montana‘s Attorney General, speaking about the failure of that state’s House members to repeal a ban on homosexuality. The bill reportedly passed the Senate but did not attain a needed supermajority in the House needed to blast SB 276 out of the House committee. (KXLH)

Diane Sands, a lesbian Representative for Missoula, pleaded with her fellow legislators to move the bill forward. She is quoted by the Billings Gazette as saying:

”You know, we are members of your family and your community…. We sit next to you in your pew at church and in some cases we’re your pastor, whether you know it or not. We care for your parents in nursing homes. We’re your nieces and nephews. We fill the potholes on your streets, and we even serve beside you as members of the House and the Senate. These days we serve beside you in the House and the Senate as out members of the lesbian and gay community, partly because we were not under the threat of this law.”

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