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by HRC Staff •
Following the most anti-LGBTQ+ session in the history of the Montana Legislature, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — is calling on Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte to veto five aggressively anti-LGBTQ+ bills. The bills are pending the Governor’s signature just days after Republican legislators silenced transgender State Rep. Zooey Zephyr and barred her from the Montana House. Gianforte’s own son, David, has also joined a growing chorus of voices calling on the Governor to veto these discriminatory bills.
The five bills awaiting Gianforte’s consideration are:
The LGBTQ Erasure Act especially may pose broader dangers to LGBTQ+ people across the country. If it becomes a framework for discrimination in other state legislatures, it will also open an unprecedented legal can of worms. Non-partisan fiscal analysis from Montana’s Legislative Fiscal Division indicates if signed into law the bill will risk the state’s federal funding of $7.5 billion — half of the state’s budget.
So far in 2023, HRC is opposing more than 540 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in statehouses across the country. More than 220 of those bills would specifically restrict the rights of transgender people, the highest number of bills targeting transgender people in a single year to date.
This year, HRC is tracking:
To make a general inquiry, please visit our contact page. Members of the media can reach our press office at: (202) 572-8968 or email press@hrc.org.
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