During any given election cycle, campaign ads with gun-toting politicians donning hunting vests and poised to shoot a target out of frame bombard every television viewer in Montana. Unlike in
Treatment ban creates uncertainty for trans youth, families
ANDREW DeMILLO and DAVID CRARY, Associated Press
April 17, 2021
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1of3Andrew Bostad, center, talks with his mother, Brandi Evans and stepdad Jimmy Evans at their home in Bauxite, Ark., on Thursday, April 15, 2021. Andrew is one of hundreds of transgender youth in Arkansas who could have their hormone therapy cut off under a new state law banning gender confirming treatments for minors. Opponents have vowed to challenge the ban in court before it takes effect later this year.Andrew DeMillo/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3This photo provided by Joanna Brandt, Dylan Brandt, 15, poses for a photo taken in Greenwood, Arkansas on Feb. 18, 2021. Dylan is one of hundreds of transgender youth in Arkansas who could have their hormone therapy cut off under a new law banning gender confirming treatments for minors. Opponents have vowed to challenge the law in court before it takes effect later this year
Senate Bill 215, known as the âMontana Religious Freedom Restoration Act,â which has raised concerns regarding discrimination in the state, passed both the Senate and House, and is headed to Gov. Greg Gianforteâs desk as of April 6.Â
On March 11, the billâs sponsor, Republican state senator Carl Glimm, said that the bill aims to strengthen Montanansâ First Amendment right to freedom of religion in his introduction of the bill to the Montana House of Representatives.Â
SB 215âs language states that the bill aims to âprovide a claim or defense to a person or persons whose exercise of religion is substantially burdened by state action.âÂ
In a flurry of legislative maneuvers Thursday, major marijuana implementation bills first died and then were resurrected as legislators work against a looming procedural deadline.
The House will consider all three proposals next week, when lawmakers will have the chance to make amendments or blend certain provisions from each bill into a single proposal. It took some last-minute wrangling to get the legislative package out of committee, however. There was definitely a plan to have all three at least come to the floor to have the discussion up there, House Speaker Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale, told reporters Thursday. Then when one went down, there was kind of a domino effect that had to be undone to get em going again.â