Speaker of the House Yields to Public Pressure
House Speaker Dan McGee (R-Laurel) used all the power and tricks at his disposal to get House Bill 511 passed out of committee. HB 511 sought to eliminate language from state employment guidelines prohibiting discrimination against gay and lesbian state employees. In December 2000, the Racicot Administration put these guidelines in place after more than two years of study and public hearings. These guidelines made it clear that the only legitimate reason to fire a state employee is for poor job performance. If McGee and his supporters had succeeded in passing HB 511, state employees could also have been fired for being gay.
McGee claimed Racicot's actions violated the proper roles of the legislature and the executive branches. He felt, since the Montana Legislature has refused to protect gays and lesbians civil rights, Racicot should not have made the administrative rule change. Support for HB 511 came from the customary anti-gay organizations, including the Christian Coalition of Montana and Montana Citizens for Decency Through Law. However, their support was not based on restoring legislative power. Instead it focused on demonizing gays and lesbians.
HB 511 was referred to the House Administration committee. The committee was split evenly on the bill, meaning it should have been dead. Rep. Gay Anne Masolo (R-Townsend) was the key vote. She refused to bow to the intense pressure from the Christian right and was the only Republican on the committee to oppose the bill. It was still dead in committee at transmittal. However, McGee got it placed on a list with seven other pieces of legislation that were exempted from the deadline.
Rolling in the Mud
On March 22, the committee voted on HB 511. However, the bill's supporters waited until Masolo left the room to present a bill before another committee. She was not notified of the upcoming vote. Using this sneaky maneuver, the committee passed HB 511 by a 9-8 vote.
When questioned about this parliamentary maneuvering, McGee admitted that he had orchestrated the whole thing. "I'm using the system exactly the way it was defined," he said.
The public did not view his actions as acceptable. It may have been legal, but both the Independent Record and Billings Gazette condemned McGee on their editorial pages. When HB 511 came to the floor of the Montana House, McGee announced he was withdrawing the bill because of the "viciousness" he had seen around the bill. Thanks to public pressure, a blatant attempt to keep gays and lesbians second-class citizens failed.