Latest news with #MontanaFamilyFoundation
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill prohibiting religious discrimination in foster care, adoption closer to becoming law
House Bill 655 has the stated intention of 'prohibiting discriminatory action' to potential foster parents or those interested in adoption. (Jordan Hansen / Daily Montanan) For the 21 members of the Senate who voted against House Bill 655, Sen. Theresa Manzella had a very specific message. 'To those of you who are in opposition to it, I'm sorry,' Manzella, a Republican from Hamilton said. 'I wish you knew the Jesus Christ that I know, because he would never abandon, or abuse, or hurt children.' At the heart of a fiery debate on Monday was whether the state's foster care system discounts families with strong religious beliefs. However, other lawmakers worried that foisting strong or different religious beliefs on foster children could create more trauma or instability. The bill was brought by Rep. Greg Oblander, R-Billings, and carried by Manzella, and it seeks to change laws regarding foster care and adoption services. The bill passed a second reading, 29-21. The legislation's stated intention is 'prohibiting discriminatory action' to potential foster parents or those interested in adoption. Proponents of the bill said it would open up more opportunities for children to be fostered or adopted, and the Montana Family Foundation testified some state-sponsored training for foster parents did not fit into some people's religious beliefs. Opponents said it could impress religious beliefs onto adopted and foster children, with references to the country's Native American boarding school era. It drew lengthy and, at times, furious emotional debate. Multiple legislators — including Sens. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, and John Fuller, R-Kalispell — stood to speak on the bill and amendment several times. Windy Boy, a member of the Rocky Boy's Chippewa-Cree tribe, stood three times on the bill itself after speaking during an amendment. Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvary, R-Billings, shut Windy Boy down when he tried to speak on the floor for a third time. Senate rules allowed two opportunities to stand and speak on an item. 'I'm not going to apologize for standing more than twice,' Windy Boy had said moments prior. 'That's what my constituents sent me here to do.' Windy Boy's opposition to the bill included references to religious run boarding schools, one of the darkest periods of American history. Thousands of Indigenous children were sent to Christian-run boarding schools to be 'assimilated' in white culture. More than 3,000 children died at these schools, according to a 2024 report in the Washington Post. The federal government also commissioned a report released in 2024 on boarding schools. Some of those children were sexually abused, including in Montana. 'A lot of those kids had no choices,' Windy Boy said on the floor. 'The parents had no choices. But yet, at the same time, those kids were spanked, they were abused, mental abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse. Is that the kind of system that we're going to continue pushing into this era? I should hope not.' An amendment from Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, sought to take some of the teeth out of the legislation, removing foster care. Neumann presented it as strictly as a reunification ideal — essentially foster children should be placed in culturally appropriate situations. 'It's taking foster care out just to make sure that birth parents and families, that their beliefs are able to be held intact in case of reunification,' Neumann said. 'I believe everyone here supports reunification of families wherever possible.' Some Senate Republicans appeared to view both the amendment as well as some statements made on the floor to be a full-throated attack on Christianity. 'It's very clear what's going on here,' Fuller said. 'This is a secular attempt to deny people of faith, of any kind, of being involved in the foster care system.' Sen. Dennis Lenz said there was 'an illusion' religion had a 'negative impact.' 'If your car breaks down in the middle of the inner city in the dark of the night, and you have a mile back to home and a group of 20-year-olds is coming to you out of the dark, wouldn't it make a difference if they're coming from the Bible study?' said Lenz, a Republican from Billings. 'Most likely.' The Senate was under 'pressure' to pass the bill, Sen. Ellie Boldman, D-Missoula said on the floor. Some of that pressure was from the Montana Family Foundation, Boldman said in a text message, and one of the organization's lobbyists, Derek Oestreicher, was seated on a bench Monday in the Senate gallery. Oestreicher also provided testimony during the bill's Senate Judiciary hearing. He said during the bill's hearing that his organization had heard from religious families they would choose their faith over fostering. 'Montana Family Foundation was contacted by two separate families over the past year related to some of the required training that the state requires for foster families to undergo, and it discussed LGBTQ issues and how to address those issues,' Oestreicher said. 'And these families were concerned that this was a required training, and they weren't necessarily required to say they were an ally or that they would take a certain action with regard to LGBT issues, but it trended toward that, and it made them feel very uncomfortable.' Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, said he supported the bill and that it was 'academic' for him having gone through the process, though it wasn't clear if he meant fostering or adoption. But he then went on to say for him, there was no prejudice against his Lutheran faith. 'I've done it,' Glimm said, 'In my process, I wasn't discriminated against for my religious views.'
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Montana Senate Judicial committee takes up bill that criminalizes care for transgender youth
Sen. John Fuller, R-Whitefish, waits to present Senate Bill 164, which would make procuring or providing certain care for transgender youth a felony. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan) A doctor couldn't fix a cleft palate on a baby or circumcise an infant if Senate Bill 164 takes effect, said one medical provider. Another doctor said a child with scoliosis couldn't be treated if the bill is signed into law. Several people who testified said suicide rates among transgender youth will increase. The Senate Judiciary committee on Jan. 27 heard testimony on SB 164, which would make it a felony for a parent or medical provider to procure or provide treatment to alter the appearance of a child younger than 16 or to provide surgical treatment, puberty blockers or doses of estrogen or testosterone to affirm a transgender child's identity. Sen. John Fuller, R-Whitefish, sponsored the bill, which comes with a penalty of up to five years in prison or a $10,000 fine, or up to 10 years and $25,000 if a 'child suffers serious bodily injury.' In 2023, the Montana Legislature passed and Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate bill 99, which made it illegal for young people who are transgender to receive gender-affirming care. The ACLU of Montana sued on behalf of plaintiffs and opposed SB 164 too. Monday, Fuller said the Montana Supreme Court already found SB 99 to be unconstitutional — although Derek Oestreicher of the Montana Family Foundation corrected him and said it has only been preliminarily enjoined. However, Fuller said his bill is different because it is amending a different section of code, one that addresses endangering the welfare of children. Representatives from the Montana Family Foundation and Montana Medical Freedom Alliance were among the handful of proponents who testified in support of the bill. Oestreicher said gender dysphoria, where a person feels their biological sex doesn't match their gender identity, is a 'deeply complex and personal experience,' and the bill seeks to ensure children aren't subjected to 'life altering consequences' from treatment. 'This legislation is critical to protecting Montana children from harmful and irreversible medical interventions,' Oestreicher said. In December, the Montana Supreme Court found SB 99 likely violates the state constitution's right to privacy, and the law is temporarily blocked while the lawsuit plays out. At the hearing Monday, many members of the medical community including counselors and an emergency room doctor testified against the bill. They said doctors are sworn to present the best options to patients, and the bill would make them and parents criminals for offering them necessary care and potentially increase suicide rates among children. Dr. Cathy White had retired as a pediatrician, but she came out of retirement because of a shortage of providers in Butte. White said if the bill passes, shortages will get worse. Some transgender youth don't experience any dysphoria at all, but White has had patients come into her office and say, ''If my body keeps changing like this, I'm going to kill myself.'' White said the use of puberty blockers isn't taken lightly, but they have been used for decades, and she will quit working if the bill passes. 'Personally, I'm too old to risk a felony if this law passes, and I would cease to practice in Montana,' said White, past president of the Montana Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics. The Movement Advancement Project lists 24 states including Montana that have bans, not all in effect, on 'best practice' care for transgender youth. MAP describes itself as a nonprofit think tank dedicated to research that supports equality. Dr. Lauren Wilson, with the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, presented the committee with a list of 43 medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, that have issued statements in support of medical care for transgender patients and against restrictions that criminalize them. Wilson, also testifying for the Montana Academy of Family Physicians, told the committee it's important to recognize transgender and intersex people have existed across cultures and throughout history. No single pathway exists for youth seeking gender affirming care, Wilson said. In some cases, support entails allowing a child to get a different haircut or use a different name. Of adolescents seen in a gender clinic in a large children's hospital, 65% received no medication or other interventions, Wilson said. Just 7% received puberty blockers, and 35% received hormones. Children don't undergo surgery, and just 25% to 35% of people who are transgender have ever had surgery, Wilson said. 'Bills like this one are based in misconceptions about gender affirming care that are circulating nationally,' Wilson said. Planned Parenthood of Montana, the Montana Hospital Association, Montana Primary Care Association, a member of the Montana Psychiatric Association, the Women's Foundation of Montana, and a pastor were among the opponents who testified. Faye Wilde said before she was a transgender woman, she was a trans child, and she knows she would have faced less harassment if she had had access to puberty blockers early on. Wilde described the bill as cruel and 'blatantly unconstitutional,' and she said transgender people have always existed in Montana, 'and we always will.' 'You cannot legislate us back into the closet, into the grave or out of existence,' Wilde said. 'We are here, and here we will remain.' The bill has no fiscal note, but it would be costly for public defenders and child and protective services, said Kelsen Young, with the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Young said the coalition stood in 'indignant opposition' to the bill. Some parents won't testify in opposition because they fear prosecution, said Young, who identified herself as a mother and grandmother. 'Please know that this is a life and death situation,' Young said. 'The fact that we are creating a felony for parents who are doing the best they can in these incredibly difficult situations is offensive to those of us who work with children.' Anna Louise Peterson, a licensed clinical professional counselor, has provided support to transgender, nonbinary and intersex clients for the last 25 years. 'I have yet to see a single case in which the treatment protocol has caused any harm to any of my clients. Quite the opposite. It has enabled them to thrive,' Peterson said. Shawn Reagor, on behalf of Bridger Care, Montana's largest nonprofit reproductive and sexual health clinic, said the bill aims to block treatment that saves lives. Reagor said it also affects less than 0.1% of the population in the country, fewer than 3,000 people, and the bill is a waste of time and money. 'The government has no place inserting itself between parents, teens and their trusted health care providers,' Reagor said. In support of the bill, however, Erin Laws, with the Montana Medical Freedom Alliance, said voters gave Americans and Montanans a clear mandate in the most recent election to return to 'common sense' and traditional values. Laws also pointed out that a doctor who had received nearly $10 million from the U.S. government for a study regarding puberty blockers declined to release the full results. 'She refused to release the findings because she did not want them to be weaponized,' Laws said. The committee did not take immediate action on the bill on Monday.
