Montana voted to strike an obsolete law criminalizing gay sex on Wednesday:
The Montana Supreme Court struck down the law in 1997, and Senate Bill 276 carried by Sen. Tom Facey would remove it from state code. The Missoula Democrat said the measure would provide equal protection under the law for all Montanans.
The Senate endorsed the bill 41-9 with 19 of 28 Senate Republicans supporting the measure. It has one more usually procedural vote before it goes to the House.
Republican backing for the measure goes against years of support for outlawing homosexual acts, which became part of the official party platform after the 1997 Supreme Court decision.
As I noted earlier this week, the Montana House passed an awful bill which nullified Missoula, Montana's Equality Ordinance protecting LGBT people from discrimination, and forces other municipalities to rely on state law (which doesn't protect LGBTs) when looking to enact similar statutes.
Given that, it's not surprising that another bill which would have expanded the state's civil rights laws to protect LGBT citizens from discrimination has failed to make it out of a House panel.
On that note, David Mixner has some words for the GOP as it once again makes us its priority in many states such as Florida, Indiana, Iowa, and D.C.: "No window dressing they put on it can make it look any better. We will never forget that they have chosen this moment and opportunity for their party to turn against us with a vengeance."
