Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, through his lieutenant governor s testimony Thursday, put his support behind a bill to establish the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Montana.
Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras, a former University of Montana adjunct law professor and past candidate for the Montana Supreme Court, told the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday that Senate Bill 215Â had the support of the first Republican governor in the last 16 years.
The bill has drawn some of the sharpest criticism from the LGBTQ community since it surfaced in the Senate, where it narrowly passed last month.Â
Thursday was the first public support Gianforte, a deeply religious conservative, lent to the bill.