A federal jury convicted a Montana man of hate and firearms crimes for firing an AK-style assault rifle at the residence of a woman, who identified as lesbian, and was home at the time. After a four-day trial that began on Feb. 14, the jury found John Russell Howald, 46, of Basin, Montana, guilty of hate crime acts and discharge of firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence as charged in a superseding indictment.
“This defendant is being held accountable for attempting to violently eliminate the entire LGBTQ community in a small Montana town,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This hate crime and violent campaign targeting the LGBTQ community is a reminder of the epidemic of hate violence targeting people based on their sexual orientation. All people have the right to feel safe in their homes and communities, regardless of who they love.”
Howald faces a maximum of life imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release on the hate crime conviction and a mandatory minimum 10 years to life imprisonment, consecutive to any other sentence, a $250,00 fine and five years of supervised release on the firearm conviction.
“Howald … pointed a rifle at the deputy and fled on foot, firing at least one more shot as he went. Sheriff’s officers arrested Howald the next day….“
“To protect Montanans’ right to freely exercise their religion, I was proud to sign the Religious Freedom Restoration Act today.” – Montana Governor Greg Gianforte
A lot of news was reported this week that received little or no attention because of the Derek Chauvin case. This is one of the stories that went overlooked.
Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte on Thursday signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, bolstering religious beliefs as a claim or defense in court. Democrats and other opponents have decried the new law, arguing it would empower people to freely discriminate against LGBTQ people with beliefs that they are immune in the courts.
Democratic lawmakers in both chambers who are LGBTQ shared soul-bearing testimony in floor sessions about the message the bill’s passage would send to communities who already suffer discrimination. The legislation spurred opponents to rally outside the Capitol, while more than 250 companies co-signed a letter opposing SB 215.
Religion is a CHOICE. Being gay, not so much.
At this point I’d usually say BOYCOTT MONTANA but c’mon there is really nothing there to boycott.
Today the Montana Supreme Court ruled against six couples petitioning for equal rights benefits allowed for opposite sex couples. Now in the motion filed for the plantiffs weren’t asking for same sex marriage but did feel that they were entiled to those benefits the government allows to straight couples. Here’s more from the (AP):
The Montana Supreme Court on Monday rejected an “overly broad” request that gay couples be guaranteed the same benefits as married couples.
The court wrote in Monday’s 4-3 decision Monday that a lower court was within its discretion when it earlier dismissed the request. But the Supreme Court left the door open for the gay couples to modify their request and try again.
A Helena district court judge dismissed the six couples’ case last year after state prosecutors argued that spousal benefits are limited by definition to married couples. A voter-approved amendment in 2004 defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock based his ruling in part on the state’s marriage amendment and also said that an order to force state lawmakers to write new laws would violate the separation of powers.
The majority justices upheld that decision. The court wrote that the gay couples want the court to intervene “without identifying a specific statute or statutes that impose the discrimination they allege.”
James Goetz, the attorney for the couples, said in April arguments before the high court that his clients were not asking to for the right to marry. But they are entitled to make the same decisions about their families’health care and finances as married couples under the Montana Constitution, and the state’s refusal to expressly provide those rights is discriminatory, he said.
Assistant attorney general Mike Black responded that the couples’ demands were overly sweeping and they do not cite the specific laws that would have to be changed.
How can the judge claim that the motion was too vague in description? If the plantiffs were simply asking for those same benfits and had adequate proof of how they qualify then it isn’t vague. It’s prejudive. Making the claim that because of the same sex marriage ban in Montana is also reason for the decision is contradictory because it sets a statute that these loving couples don’t have the same rights. These are what these couples were asking for:
— Inheritance rights, and the ability to make burial decisions and receiveworkers compensation death benefits.
— The right to file joint tax returns, claim spousal tax exemptions or take property tax benefits.
— The right to make health care decisions for a spouse when that person cannot.
— Legal protection in cases of separation and divorce, including children’s custody and support.
To me the ruling of course is discriminatory and dances around in this circular logic that can only be described as one thing:bullshit. Let’s hope that most of these situations can be cleared up when the Supreme Court rules on DOMA and Prop 8 next year. .
A 22-year-old gay man being identified only as “Joseph” was a victim of an anti-gay beating outside a bar in Missoula, Montana very early Sunday morning, according to theWipeout Homophobiapage on Facebook,
The Missoulian also confirms Wipeout Homophobia’s posting:
The man had gone to the Missoula Club to celebrate his 22nd birthday, and it was outside of that establishment that the attack took place:
The man told police he’d asked people about the location of a gay bar, when someone asked him to step outside for a cigarette, Brodie said.
But the man said that when he left the bar, someone hit him, and then two more people joined in, Brodie said.
The incident happened at 1:30 a.m. Sunday and the man reported it to police at 4:30 a.m., after he got home, Brodie said.
…the Missoula Independent and MPD obtained video footage that shows Baken doing a backflip on Higgins Avenue and sustaining the injuries, lacerations to his face, that have been depicted on social media sites, during the landing.
Baken will likely be charged for making a false report, according to police.
The little shit should be foirced to apologize the LGBT community and have to do service at a crisis hotline for this stunt. . How many people in that area will now be disbelieved because of his lie.
Anti-gay activist Pastor Harris Himes who is also an attorney, volunteers for the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund and maintains a blog on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government site has been charged with six felonies in Ravalli County Justice Court Wednesday for perpetrating an investment scheme that bilked one man out of his $150,000 inheritance and also put over a dozen homeless people back out on the street after a Hamilton, Montana shelter cut ties with him.
Himes was required to surrender his passport and will next appear in District Court on either Oct. 6 or Oct. 20. He didn’t keep a low profile after leaving the Ravalli County jail, though. Peter Christian of KGVO radio’s “Talkback” show mentioned the charges against Himes on Thursday morning and Himes called in to respond. He told Christian he is an attorney, but knows better than to represent himself. Himes went on to claim that gay and pro-abortion activists may be behind the charges against him and co-defendant James “Jeb” Bryant, another self-proclaimed pastor. Himes further claimed that State Insurance Commissioner Monica Lindeen may also be behind the charges because of political disagreements they’ve had in the past. Other callers quickly, and forcefully, called him out for making groundless accusations
Believe me Himes if I had that much power I wouldn’t be going after your minor ass.
Now man up, serve the time for doing the crime, and climb off that cross bitch! Jesus needs it back
As if Montana didn’t have a bad enough reputation to start off with now this.
John Abarr announced Wednesday that he will run as a Republican for Montana’s U.S. House seat.
Abarr who ran for state legislator in 2002 lost, and now says he is no longer affiliated with the KKK, though he remains on the group’s mailing list but is running in response to the election of the America’s first black President in effort to “save the white race.” And to “draw attention to the fact that white people are becoming a minority and losing our political power and way of life,”
*Abarr “wrote fliers encouraging the deportation of gay men, lesbians and Jews to create a racially pure ‘Realm of Montana.’” Meanwhile, the Montana Republican party wants to “keep homosexual acts illegal.”
*Abarr claimed that “AIDS is airborne” and that you can get HIV simply by attending a Pride rally. Montana Representative Janna Taylor recently made up a story about prison inmates transmitting AIDS by means of blowdarts.
*Abarr said KKK is “not any different than the NAACP” and expressed his wish for an “all-white society.” Meanwhile, Republican Representative James Knox recently pushed a bill that would have stripped US citizenship from the children of immigrants and Native Americans
Seems like a perfect fit for the Montana GOP doesn’t he?
But here’s the truly BIZARRE thing….
Abarr is running on a platform of legalizing marijuana, increasing mental health programs, keeping abortion legal and abolishing the death penalty
The Montana Republican Party. those who are responsible for a numerous number of livestocks loss of virginity, refuses to remove a call to “keep homosexual acts illegal”, which falls under the “Crime” section of their party platform. The funny thing is that homosexual acts ARE NOT illegal in Montana since Montana’s own state Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay sex six years before SCOTUS IN 1997
You may remember that back in June the Texas GOP called for the recriminalization of sodomy and for making it a felony to perform a same-sex marriage.
What a bunch of Neanderthal assholes. They probably think that Liza and Cher are “homosexual acts” also.
Now that ousted Montana Tea Party leaderTim Ravndal, who was fired over a Facebook conversation that appeared to make light of killing gay people, is back from hunting on Crazy Mountain (No, really) wants his job back. He is also spreading so much idiotic talk to defend his condoning of homophobic violence if what he says is true and he REALLY IS that stupid he shouldn’t be allowed to run a flea circus let alone a political party. Even one as moronic as the Tea Party.
Ravndal still claims that he was unaware that hanging “fruits” was a reference to killing gays, but NOW adds that instead he thought that “hang” meant to”display” described a political communications strategy.
“I thought he was using his derogatory adjectives of the gay and lesbian community. A display could mean many things. Are we talking about poster signs, are we talking about a book?” Ravndal said.
And as for his response to the comment: “@Dennis, Where can I get that Wyoming printed instruction manual?” Ravndal said he thought there was “an actual printed manual about displaying the facts in this issue.”
The Montana Human Rights Network responds:
“Mr. Ravndal is insulting the intelligence of Montanans that care about human dignity and safety. The comment from Dennis Scranton was clearly about hurting gay people,” said spokeswoman Kim Abbott. “I think that people that care about the safety of all of their community members need to decide on whether they believe Mr. Ravndal when he says he doesn’t know what that meant.”
The Big Sky Tea Party Association board is expected to vote next week on whether or not to reinstate Ravndal’s membership
Well I don;t buy his crap for a second. And if the Montana Big Sky Tea Party reinstates him it proves the case that the Tea Party is nothing more than idiots leading other idiot
Oh and by the way. The Montana Big Sky Tea Party Association is backing a rally next week opposing Helena’s proposed sex education program that includes teaching tolerance about gay love, an event Ravndal helped organize.
Not LITERALLY. Dang it! (Although I am sure that there’s a hit horror movie in there somewhere.)
But it does seem that those The Tea Bagging Montana folk of Montana’s Big Sky Tea Party Association are in a world of turmoil after the removal of Tim Ravndal as its President, following his remarks on Facebook condoning violence against gay people namely “hanging fruits”
At a frequently contentious meeting, many of the approximately 30 members in attendance blasted acting board chairman Roger Nummerdor and chairman Jim Walker — absent because he’s hunting in the Crazy Moutains — for stripping Ravndal of his position and membership without giving him a chance to defend himself, and for announcing the move to the press over the Labor Day weekend. In the end, Nummerdor said the available board members would meet soon to consider reinstating Ravndal’s association membership, although he did not specify a date for that meeting.”
Ravndal was hunting in the “Crazy Mountains”? How apt.
Roger Nummerdor the Big Sky Tea Party chair has said that many of Ravndals supporters are saying that Ravndal’s comments were manipulated by liberal and gay-rights groups and the media, and most said the image problem was exacerbated by the quick board action. But Nummerdor himself has stated that the “Shepard story occurred to him as soon as he read about Wyoming and hanging fruits.” in the post even though Ravndal has said that he didn’t realize the implications of the Facebook comment he was responding to.
Add to that the fact yesterday, another member of the Tea Party and a GOP candidate for the Montana House, Kristi Allen-Gailusha, declared “war” on the gay community in Ravndal’s defense and it seems followers of the Tea Party have come out of the closet, sort to speak.. The TP higher ups have for over a year back peddled away from signs that the party was hate based but finally their own is coming out to show that hate and intolerance is the foundation of the party and eat their own.
Looks like we got a whole lot of trouble up at Crazy Mountain!
Gailushas, who filed a lawsuit in District Court Aug. 20 claiming the proposed Helena School District health enhancement curriculum would do her children “irreparable harm.”also has a MySpace page which shows her holding a handgun in her right hand with a black shirt and white letters that read “Jihad this.” (I’d worry more about the gun doing harm to your children than a health curriculum BITCH!)
Krazy, KRAZY, KRAZY!
Does anyone out there really believe that The Tea Party is nothing more than the new KKK?
There’s a screenshot of Brunhilda’s Facebook page where she declares war “ON THE GAY COMMUNITY” and then backpedals away from violence to make it a war of “truth and hypocrisy they espouse.” after the JUMP Check it out.
The truth is YOU ARE A CRAZY DANGEROUS BITCH KRISTI! (And ugly too!)
UPDATE: 7:00pm EST –Montana Cowgirl Blog reports that Republican House Candidate and Pyschopath Kristi Allen-Gailushus is leaving the Tea Party over their decision to oust its president over his bigoted remarks. It’s back to the GOP for her where homophobic bigot assholes can be themselves
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