Montana: House votes to decriminalize homosexuality

The Montana House decisively voted Tuesday to repeal Montana’s law making gay sex a crime, putting the bill one step away from the governor’s desk.

After a half-hour of emotional debate for and against the measure, the House voted 64-36 to endorse Senate Bill 107. Twenty-five Republicans joined all 39 House Democrats to support the bill.

The bill removes gay sex from the definition of the crime of “deviate sexual relations,” a felony that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $50,000.

LGBT advocates in the state have worked for over 20 years to address the law that grouped gay sex in with “sexual intercourse with an animal” as criminal deviate sexual conduct.

The bill faces one more vote in the House before heading to the Governor's desk.

(via http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/montana-house-endorses-measure-to-decriminalize-gay-sex/article_79b4d3e9-c54a-5cc5-86cd-695dcf6d5750.html#ixzz2Q4nTIBKi)