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Gay Civil Rights Bill Dies In Montana
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 14, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET
(Helena, Montana) 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.
''What if your expression is pedophilia?'' he
said. ''Again, you have that kind of potential conflict here.''
The governor's office had supported the bill.
A similar bill failed in the 2005 Legislature.
©365Gay.com 2007
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