Montana Governor Steve Bullock, a
Democrat, on Thursday signed a bill repealing the state's obsolete
law banning gay sex.
Montana's law outlawed gay sex and
“sexual intercourse with an animal.” Activists said that the
law's lumping of the two was demeaning.
The Montana Supreme Court struck down
the law 16 years earlier, making it unenforceable.
“I am not going to speak too long
because, frankly, the longer I talk, the longer this embarrassing and
unconstitutional law stays on the books,” Bullock told a cheering
crowd of supporters in the Capitol's Rotunda.
Gay rights activists began their push
to repeal the law 24 years earlier.
Rep. Jerry Bennett, a Republican who
opposed repeal, told the AP that removing the law could have
“long-term ramifications.”
“This isn't over,” he said. “We
will see a continual push for recognition of unions … for health
insurance. All kinds of things will come out of this.”
The decriminalization bill received
overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both houses.
(Related: Texas
Senate panel approves bill decriminalizing gay sex.)