capitolrotunda

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold an important hearing on Senate Bill 107 -- a bill to repeal same-sex sexual relations inclusion in the state's deviate sexual conduct law.

It's past time for this to happen. The law is completely unconstitutional. Montana's Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1997 through the ACLU's  case Gryczan v. Montana.  And the U.S. Supreme Court did the same in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas. Yet this Montana law calling for gay men and lesbian women to serve 10 years in prison and pay up to $50,000 in fines for having sex has remained on the books.
Retaining the law has been an act of mean-spiritedness by legislators intent on keeping gay and lesbian Montanans labeled as criminals.

Attempts to repeal the law in the past have failed and the hearings have been filled with hateful vitriol. If you have time to testify today, please take a stand for LGBT Montanans.

Being gay is not a crime.

Our schedule for the day:
Joint Appropriations Committee 8 a.m., Room 317

  • Department of Corrections (Agency overview, Administrative and Financial Services Program)

Senate Judiciary Committee 10 a.m. Room 303 

  • SB 107 Generally revise deviate sexual conduct laws

Hearings and floor sessions can be accessed online.