Aclu of Montana Foundation Inc

Fair is Fair Montana reaches out across Montana and it's rural spaces to change hearts and minds ~ increasing support for relationship recognition for same sex couples and nondiscrimination ordinances in selected cities.

Our relationship recognition work supports Donaldson & Guggenheim v. State of Montana, the ACLU of Montana case, which represents six loving, committed same sex couples who have asked the state to legally recognize their relationships.

This has its challenges.  Montana has a Constitutional Marriage Amendment that limits marriage to being between one man and one woman. Worse, there are absolutely no legal protections for same sex couples in times of crisis. This hurts Montana's LGBTQ citizens. 


Mary Leslie, one of the plaintiffs in our court case, lost her partner of many years in a fatal workplace accident. Mary was denied access to her partner, was not allowed to make any funeral arrangements, and was even kept from attending memorial services. She also had no recourse when her partner's family claimed half of all the assets and left her spiralling in financial loss as well as emotional distress.

 

Our nondiscrimination work lays the groundwork in cities for all inclusive LGBT ordinances that provide legal protections in the workplace, housing and public accomodation sectors for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals.

Fair is Fair Montana focuses on face to face conversations with people across Montana. We create opportunities to speak on a profound level to people who may have never been formally asked to publicly support their gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered friends, family and neighbors. 

Our work has resulted in over 100 faith leaders in Montana signing a statement of support for recognizing LGBT relationships through domestic partnership.  Our statewide business and organizational outreach has collected leaders  who support  our work in all facets for LGBTQ citizens in the state and are willing to say so in a very visible way. We have collected thousands of signatures of supporters for domestic partnership and fairness, but more importantly, we have changed hearts and minds of many who didn't know just how unfairly Montana is treating its citizens.


Please contribute to Fair is Fair Montana and the ACLU of Montana and help us continue our work across the state.

For more information, go to www.FairIsFairMontana.org or to www.ACLUMontana.org