Montana Lawmaker Lobbies to Remove Sodomy Law
The Advocate,
January 31, 2003 http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?id=7626&sd=01/31/03
Montana representative Tom Facey (D-Missoula) said he is asking his fellow
lawmakers to honor the oath they took on the first day of the 2003 session to
uphold the Montana constitution, according to the Billings Gazette. He’s
asking them on that basis to remove from the state’s code the statute that
criminalizes consensual gay sex.
The Montana supreme court in 1997 overturned the state’s sodomy law based
on the state’s constitutional right to privacy, but Montana has not removed
the statute from its books. No one in the state apparently has ever been
prosecuted under the law, lawmakers said.
"House Bill 294 asks legislators to respect the rights of all
Montanans," Facey said Tuesday at the hearing of the house judiciary
committee.
Gay rights advocates praised Facey’s support and called on the
legislature to follow through. "This bill is simple," said Karl
Olson, director of Pride! in Helena, a gay rights organization. "This
bill is about walking the talk. It’s about the constitution."
The committee has yet to take action on the bill.
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