The Republican House majority refused to bring a bill to the floor for debate that would give legal recourse to LGBTQ individuals in cases of discrimination. House Bill 417 would have added sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to Montana’s Human Rights Act.
The House Judiciary Committee killed House Bill 417 Monday.
The bill’s sponsor tried to resurrect the bill and bring it to the House floor for a full debate. Representative Kelly McCarthy, D-Billings, said the bill got a fair and full hearing in committee, but deserves to be debated on the House floor.
Representative Kim Abbott said this issue is personal. The Democrat said she feels protected in Helena because the community has a non-discrimination ordinance. But that’s not always true elsewhere for her and her partner, “Should we both go to check in at the hotel. Is it going to cause an issue? Do we have to lie? Will we be humiliated?”
“It takes a cumulative toll on your spirit, on the way you feel,” Abbott said.
Abbott said adding protections for LBGTQ individuals to Montana’s Human Rights Act eventually will change people’s behavior. But more importantly it would offer her redress in the case of discrimination, she said.
“You know we’ve never had a debate in this body on this policy and I do think it’s time,” she said. “I know the thousands of your constituents and some of my friends in the LBGT community would appreciate it too.”
The only Representative to speak against this so-called “blast” motion was Republican Greg Hertz, R-Polson.
“If we pass this bill we’re basically going to be sending a mandate down to all folks across the state of Montana,” he said.
Hertz said the debate should instead take place in local communities, as it has had with some communities adopting non-discrimination ordinances.
“We’ll eventually get there like we have on so many other issues, but if we send this down what’s that going to do across the state? It’s going to divide us. And we’re going to continue to talk about this issue for a very long time as we had with many other issues,” Hertz said.
That is exactly why this issue should be settled at the Legislature, said Representative Kelly McCarthy. He said issues like this take political courage.
“We can have this conversation here and we can have this conversation for the entire state of Montana on this floor and decide this issue once and for all,” McCarthy said.
Two Republicans - Geraldine Custer of Forsyth and Jon Knokey of Bozeman - joined all Democrats in voting yes. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the Republican majority in the Hosue. The “blast” motion failed 43-55.
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