Panel hears competing plans involving gay rights

Panel hears competing plans involving gay rights

MATT GOURAS, Associated Press

HELENA — A Senate panel agreed Friday it is time to remove an obsolete anti-gay law from the books — a move that surprised gay rights advocates at the Capitol separately dealing with proposed changes to discrimination laws.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-5 to endorse a bill that removes from the books a Montana law declaring homosexual acts illegal, sending the proposal to the full Senate. The language remains in the code even though the state Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1997.

Two Repub...