Montana Bill Will Register Gay Felons Senate Measure Lists Gays, Lesbians With Sex-Offenders
State senators who included homosexuals under a proposed sex-offender registration law were driven by intolerance, fear and hatred, members of a gay and lesbian activist group said Wednesday.
The protest by the gay-rights group Pride came after the Republican-controlled Senate, voting largely along party lines, agreed to include homosexual sex in a bill requiring convicted sex offenders and certain other felons to register with their local law enforcement agency as long as they live.
That lumps consensual gay sex with such crimes as murder, rape, aggravated assault, incest, sexual assault and indecent exposure.
Homosexual sex between consenting adults is a felony in Montana, but people on both sides of the issue agree that no one has ever been prosecuted under the law.
People attending a protest rally at the state Capitol singled out a statement by Republican state Sen. Al Bishop of Billings, who told the Senate that gay sex is “even worse than a violent sexual act.”
“What an insult to women who have been raped, children who have been molested and any victim of a truly violent crime - let alone lesbians, gay men and bisexuals who are in loving, committed relationships,” said Sandra Hale, executive director of Pride.
Several Democratic legislators joined the rally and condemned the action by Senate Republicans.
The bill passed the Senate 41-8 Wednesday.
Democrats said they hope the House will reject the Senate version and that references to homosexual sex in the bill can be taken out by a conference committee.
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