25 | OutBoise Magazine | 2015 Pride Guide
outboise.com | Issue 8.2 | June 2015
Finally, in January of 2015, due to the arrests
and the negative publicity Idaho had received
resulting from the actions, the ultra-conservative
House State Affairs committee agreed to hear
from the community and to consider the legislation. Hundreds of people testified during the
three day hearing, the majority supporting the
legislation. Unfortunately, while moved by the
stories they heard, Republican committee members voted party line to keep the bill in committee, killing the bill.
Even though the bill was defeated, Idaho
lawmakers were forced to acknowledge the
reality of the harm being done to the state’s gay
and transgender population, something they had
never done before. As the session continued organizers continued to work with lawmakers hoping
for some sort of compromise that would revive the
legislation. By February it was clear that lawmakers
had no intention to deal with the issue again and
Add the Four Words activists returned to the capital. As the 2015 legislative session drew to a close,
state leaders chose to have the group arrested on
three more occasions, rather than offer a solution
to the stories they had heard earlier in the year.
So far 11 Idaho cities have passed ordinanc-
es that prohibit discrimination against gay and
transgender citizens, however almost 70 percent
of the state remains unprotected, especially in the
rural areas Idaho is so famous for. The organizations working on the “Add the Words” bill say they
aren’t giving up. As one Add the Four Words activist notes, “The conversation isn’t about bakers or
wedding planners. This is about hundreds or people across the state living in silence and in fear.
Adding the Words is about telling young people
Idaho values their presence, it’s about telling trans
people that it’s ok to leave their houses and to go
to the grocery store, it’s about telling gay people
that it’s ok to talk about their boyfriend or girlfriend at work. This is
about our lives.”
To get involved in the Add the
Words movement visit www.addthewords.org.
You can learn more about
screening the documentary film or
purchase a copy of your own at
www.addthewordsmovie.com.
To help out with the Add the
Four Words legal defense fund or
to learn more about the direct
actions you can visit www.addthe4wordsidaho.org.