gender

Some members of queer communities report feeling more vulnerable to discrimination in public, at schools, in workplaces and within health care systems.

The bill allows individuals to sue for failing to “take reasonable steps” to prohibit the other individuals from using the bathroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex.

The House gave preliminary approval Friday to a bill that would define sex as binary in Montana law after emotional testimony from lawmakers.

Lawmakers held the first hearing Monday for a bill that would define gender-affirming medical care as a crime that endangers the welfare of a child.

Supporters said the bill was intended to protect single-sex spaces, particularly for women, while opponents called it discriminatory.

A 2023 bill that defined sex as only male or female is unconstitutional because its subject wasn’t clear in its title as required by the Montana Constitution, a judge ruled Tuesday.

SB 458 defines sex as male or female, and one attorney said the title “puts the world on notice” of its intent for numerous updates.

The figures show median pay for women in Washington for 2022 was $18,400 less than what men earned that year.

Republican lawmakers in several states have resurrected and expanded the fight over whether transgender people may use bathrooms and other facilities that do not match their sex assigned at birth.

In the lawsuit filed by Two Spirit and intersex individuals, plaintiffs say that the Montana Legislature cuts them out of their constitutionally protected rights, and that Senate Bill 458 should be struck down.