Our View: Montana House votes for the future

If ever you want to see a debate between hope and fear. the present and future, you should listen to the discussion of the Montana House floor Monday on whether to debate the issue of decriminalizing gay sex.

On one side, Rep. Bryce Bennett, the only openly gay member of the House, made a reasoned, passionate speech saying how he was hurt that the law of the only state he has ever lived in calls him a felon.

The bill was bottled up in committee, and Bennett asked that it be brought to the floor anyway.

The law banning gay sex was declared unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court in 1997,...