The plaintiffs argue that the law is an unconstitutional content- and viewpoint-based restriction on speech. They also argue it does not clearly define what actions are illegal, leading people to censor their own speech out of concern for violating the law.

A federal judge’s decision whether to permanently block Montana’s drag ban law will have to wait. First, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will make a decision on the state’s appeal of the initial injunction that temporarily blocked the law in October.

“No evidence before the court indicates that minors face any harm from drag-related events or other speech and expression critical of gender norms,” Morris said. “H.B. 359’s terms prove vague and overbroad, chilling protected speech and creating a risk of disproportionate enforcement against trans, Two-Spirit, and gender nonconforming people.”

A federal judge Friday extended his block on a Montana law that seeks to ban drag story hours in public schools and libraries, saying state attorneys haven’t proven that the events are harmful to children and that the law is written too vaguely.

“No evidence before the Court indicates that minors face any harm from drag-related events or other speech and expression critical of gender norms,” Morris wrote in granting the injunction.

More than 6,000 people, and several hundred dogs, congregated on either side of Last Chance Gulch in downtown Helena Saturday morning to cheer on the Pride parade.

Including Helena, there have been 12 Pride celebrations across Montana this summer, the most ever held in the state, says Kevin Hamm, the lead coordinator for Montana Pride. And these celebrations come after a legislative session that saw a series of bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

If anything, the crowd, a hodgepodge of Billings hipsters and cowboys in wide hats and pearl snapped shirts, got even louder after McMurtry appeared in drag. Great art can act as a bridge, a common ground for disparate groups to meet, as people.

“We must continue to fight against the lingering shadows of bigotry, hatred and inequality that still haunt us today,” said Collins, the first Black mayor in Montana. “Today we celebrate the freedom to love and to be loved just as we are.”