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Gay Civil Rights Bill Dies In Montana
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| Contributor | The Sunset Provision |
| Last Edited | The Sunset Provision Feb 15, 2007 10:03am |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Thursday, February 15, 2007 04:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Legislation that would have made it a crime in Montana to discriminate against gays, lesbians and the transgendered in Montana died in committee Wednesday following objections from the Catholic Church and other groups.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Christine Kaufmann, an openly gay Helena Democrat. It would have added ''sexual orientation'' and ''gender identity or expression'' to existing human rights laws in the state. The laws currently cover race, religion and gender.
The measure was tabled by the Senate Judiciary Committee after it failed on a 7-5 vote.
Although the legislation had the support of LGBT rights groups and the ACLU it was opposed by conservative organizations like the Catholic Church Church, the Boy Scouts and Citizens for Decency.
They argued that including the LGBT community would force them to hire gays and rent housing to them even if their religions oppose homosexuality. That, they claimed, was a violation of religious freedom.
At committee hearings last week Harris Himes, with the Montana Values Alliance, said the gender ''expression'' portion of the measure could cause unforeseen problems.
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