SeX Law in Montana is Being Struck Down } Now they Have 999 Left
HELENA, Mont. -- The woman who led the court battle to strike down a Montana law that made gay sex illegal knows that having the unconstitutional law struck from the books is a symbolic act.
All the same, Linda Gryczan began to cry when the state House finally brought the issue to the floor on Monday.
"I was actually surprised. Knowing it's a symbolic victory, I didn't realize how important it was going to be until it was there," Gryczan told the Great Falls Tribune ( http://gftrib.com/17qIski) in a story published Wednesday.
Senate Bill 107, the measure that strikes from the state code the obsolete language criminalizing gay sex as deviate sexual conduct, passed its final legislative hurdle Wednesday with a 65-34 vote in the House.
The Senate approved the bill earlier in the session, but it took the vote of more than 60 representatives to remove the measure from the House committee where it was stuck to hold floor votes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The bill now goes to Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock. The governor's office declined to say Wednesday whether Bullock plans to sign the bill.
Gryczan was the lead plaintiff in a 1995 lawsuit that led to the unanimous 1997 Montana Supreme Court decision that ruled the law unconstitutional.
But legislators resisted removing the obsolete language until now, as gay and lesbian advocates protested its continued presence was a reminder they were once considered felons.
"It's been a burr under my saddle for all these years that I've just learned to ignore," Gryczan said on Tuesday.
She and other advocates hailed the passage of the bill as a landmark victory for gay and lesbian rights in Montana.
Jamee Greer, a human rights activist and a lobbyist for the Montana Human Rights Network, said Republican legislators are coming around to recognizing that gays and lesbians deserve to be treated as equals.
"The fact is language matters, and those words matter. It's a relief to know this is moving forward," Greer said.
As more people make their sexual orientation known their friends, families and neighbors, it makes it easier for politicians from both parties to stand in favor of gay-rights issues, Greer said.
Helena City Commissioner Katherine Haque-Hausrath, who won her 2010 election campaigning on the passage of a nondiscrimination ordinance in Helena, said the Montana Legislature is now "on the right side of history" when it comes to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.
"I think this is just part of the growing momentum toward equality for LGBT people," Haque-Hausrath said.
These are other Stupid Laws in Montana. I’ll give you top 10 but there so many more. If you check your state laws Im sure you will also find stupid laws that you will shake your head wether you are Democrat or Republican. This laws were based on religion and without input from women voters. Actually from most voters since the top positions in government were sometimes based by pastors deacons and members of Protestant Denominations.
10. It is a felony for a wife to open her husband’s mail.
9. In Montana, it is illegal for married women to go fishing alone on Sundays, and illegal for unmarried women to fish alone at all.
8. It is illegal for a man and a woman to have sex in any other
position other than missionary style.
7. Prostitution is considered a “crime against the family”.
6. Seven or more Indians are considered a raiding or war party and it is legal to shoot them. (Repealed)
5. It is illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your truck without a chaperon.
4. It is a misdemeanor to show movies that depict acts of felonious crime.
3. It is illegal to use speed-dial on the cities phone system.
2. Bands who play in clubs where alcohol is served, may not leave the stage while performing.
1. It is illegal to bring a bomb or rocket to a city council proceedings.
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