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Equality news round-up: news from IL, MN, NV on marriage equality, and more
By Scottie Thomaston 
- The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will be introduced in Congress on Thursday.
- The chairman of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus is co-sponsoring the marriage equality bill in the state.
- A state senator in Minnesota who is considered a swing vote on the marriage equality bill has said he will vote for it.
- During a debate in Nevada on efforts to begin the process of repealing the state’s same-sex marriage ban, a state senator came out as gay.
- CNBC reports on the financial aspects of the eventual end of the federal DOMA.
- Former GOP congressman Jim Kolbe is pushing for the inclusion of LGBT families in a proposed immigration reform bill.
Leave a Comment April 24, 2013
Montana Gov. signs bill to officially decriminalize sodomy
By Jacob Combs
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, signed a bill into law yesterday that officially decriminalizes gay sex more than 16 years after the Montana Supreme Court ruled the state’s sodomy ban unconstitutional.
“I am not going to speak too long,” Bullock said to a standing-room only crowd in the state rotunda during a signing ceremony for the bill, “because frankly, the longer I talk, the longer this unconstitutional and embarrassing law continues to stay on our books.”
Previous legislative attempts to remove the sodomy ban from the books in Montana were unsuccessful, but this year, repeal passed the state Senate 38-11 and the House 64-35. The law has been unenforceable since 1997, when the Montana Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. That decision was later backed up by the Supreme Court 2003 opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down sodomy laws across the U.S. When a law is invalidated by the courts, it becomes unenforceable, but remains on the books and can only be removed by a vote of the legislature.
Last year, at a party convention, the Montana GOP renounced its position of support for the ban as part of its platform, paving the way for a renewed legislative push that could garner more support from Republican legislators. Two repeal bills, in fact, were prepared in late 2012 for this year’s legislative session, one written by Democrat Tom Facey and one by Republican Nicholas Schwarderer. Although it was Facey’s bill that was eventually adopted, Schwarderer told the Huffington Post last years, “In Montana we have a legacy of respecting people’s rights. This flies in the face of what we’re about.”
Seventeen other states still have unenforceable sodomy ban statutes in their state codes. A bill which is currently pending in Texas to repeal that state’s ban was advanced by a Senate committee on a unanimous 5-0 vote this week.
Below the jump, watch a video of the celebration that broke out in the Montana capitol building moments after Gov. Bullock signed the repeal bill into law.
1 Comment April 19, 2013
Equality news round-up: more support for marriage equality, analysis of post-DOMA concerns and more
By Scottie Thomaston
Nevada state seal
- John Berry, the gay director of the Office of Personnel Management, is stepping down this week.
- A bill to repeal and replace Nevada’s marriage equality ban has passed out of committee.
- What happens after DOMA is gone?
- Two more Democratic House members endorse marriage equality.
- The gay couple in Washington state who were denied service by a florist are considering their own lawsuit. As we reported yesterday, the state attorney general is suing as well.
Leave a Comment April 12, 2013
