Against the bill:

"I'm proud to be a member of the Montana lesbian, gay, bi(sexual), transgender community and a citizen of Montana and a member of this august body. There are thousands of 'us' living in Montana. We are your neighbors, your work colleagues, we are part of your families, we sit in the church pew next to you and we serve in elective office with you." — Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula.

"It seems that each there's a new attack on Missoula, each one of our local ordinances is being paraded in front of this body for judgment. And one by one you're ruling that your opinion is better than the clear opinion of the people of the city of Missoula. You keep pushing us further and further into a corner, over and over and expect us to simply take the punishment. Well, this bill absolutely has to end." — Rep. Bryce Bennett, D-Missoula.

"It (the Missoula ordinance) gave those young (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people who had been beaten up, yelled at and discriminated against day in and day out the dimmest light of hope that maybe someday they might be equal to other Montanans, maybe someday. But this bill looks to extinguish that dim light of hope and eliminate an existing right for LGBT Missoulians." — Bennett.

"Leave us alone. Leave us alone. For heaven's sake. We're one little town in a corner of Montana that has nothing to do with you. You know, I mean, why can't you let people live like they need to live their lives. Why can't they love who they want to love. Why, I don't understand it. As a Christian, the Jesus that I love said love one another, do not judge, love another." — Rep. Sue Malek, D-Missoula.

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