Montana has done something that many states and the United States Congress have debated but failed to do: it has just enacted the first attempt to close the dreaded, invasive, unconstitutional, but easily fixed “data broker loophole.” This is a very good step in the right direction because right...
It has the same problem eastern Washington has, proximity to Idaho, which is a special flavor of inbred Nazi, plus the downside of bordering other fairly… weird states, like Wyoming. I drove from western Washington to Illinois two years back, with hot pink hair, and I had to cover my hair in Montana because I genuinely felt unsafe, I’m not trans, just a cis woman with pink hair and even that got me all sorts of nasty stares and comments. There’s a strong live and let live culture too, but you’re right, it’s being actively strangled out at this point.
I drove through the same area again just last week, but only to Boulder and back, with my natural brown hair and had a significantly more friendly visit… jokes on them I’m SO much more left now that I was two years ago despite the signs
Another problem is that it’s a colony of Utah. On the wrong side of the Cascades, the Saints have way too much influence.
I have the opposite problem. I’m a fairly large, muscular old man with a shaved head and a broken nose. They always assume I’m one of them, and overshare their racist MAGA bullshit.