[Vision2020] Gay Rights Push Fails

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (February 21, 2009) Spokesman Review.

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Gay rights push fails
Idaho lawmakers reject measure expanding discrimination ban

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Idaho Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, asks a Senate committee to introduce 
her bill to expand the Idaho Human Rights Acts anti-discrimination 
protections to include sexual orientation.

http://www.MoscowCares.com/IdahoSen_Nicole_LeFavour.jpg
 
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BOISE – State senators rejected a move Friday to extend the Idaho Human 
Rights Act’s anti-discrimination provisions to cover sexual orientation, 
despite a heartfelt plea from the only openly gay Idaho legislator.

Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, said she had an array of legislative co-
sponsors and was disappointed in her colleagues. She told them that across 
Idaho, people live in fear that their employers will discover their sexual 
orientation and fire them for it, which is legal.

LeFavour said she’s learned in discussions with other lawmakers over the 
years that many mistakenly believed it was already illegal to fire someone 
because they are gay. 

A Boise State University survey last year showed that 64 percent of 
Idahoans believed it should be illegal to fire someone because they are or 
are perceived to be gay. 

But the state’s human rights law – which bans discrimination in 
employment, housing and public accommodations on the basis of race, 
religion and disability – doesn’t include sexual orientation.

“By virtue of its omission, many employers and many individuals perceive 
that it’s OK to discriminate,” LeFavour told the Senate State Affairs 
Committee. “By our silence, we condone it.”

She pleaded with the senators to introduce her bill, “just for the 
acknowledgement that this is an issue that deserves more discussion.” The 
measure included an exemption for religious organizations.

Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, moved to introduce the bill, and Sen. Kate 
Kelly, D-Boise, seconded the motion, but they were the only two to favor 
the move in a voice vote, with Sens. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, Monty 
Pearce, R-New Plymouth, Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, and Russ Fulcher, R-
Meridian, voting no. That killed the bill.

Sen. Chuck Coiner, R-Twin Falls, a co-sponsor, recalled the recent Special 
Olympics in Boise, which he said celebrated a population that once 
was “warehoused, hidden out of sight of the public for many years. … Today 
we celebrate them, we call them special.”

“We’ve come a long way,” Coiner said, but when it comes to the gay, 
lesbian and transgender population, “We’ve got a lot of education to go.”

The Rev. Bryan Fischer, who heads the Idaho Values Alliance, distributed a 
letter to the committee before the hearing opposing “granting special 
workplace rights based on non-normative sexual orientations.”

“I’m so disappointed in my colleagues,” LeFavour said. “I know better of 
them, and I know in their hearts they know better. That’s the hardest 
part.”

“I think what needs to happen now is that people who care, across the 
state, need to speak up,” she said. “And there are so many people who 
care, and we need them.”

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Reminder:

Administrative Committee Meeting
Monday (2/23/2009), 3:00 PM, City Hall Council Chambers

Proposed Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Policy – Tim Gresback

The City has a long-standing history of protection of human rights and 
dignity as well as non-discrimination against employees and applicants for 
employment because of race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national 
origin, ancestry, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, sexual 
orientation, or other basis prohibited by local, State, or Federal law. 
Because of this deep commitment to tolerance, diversity and equality in 
City employment, the Mayor proposes the addition to the City equal 
opportunity statement of individuals who may be subjected to 
discrimination based upon an individual's real or perceived gender 
expression, identity and/or characteristics. Adoption of the proposed 
Resolution would also result in changes consistent with the additional 
language in the City Personnel Policies and in some future contracts and 
grant applications.

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It is becoming evident that:

Moscow Cares . . .

Palouse Pride 2007
http://www.moscowcares.com/PalousePride/PalPride2007.htm

Palouse Pride 2008
http://www.moscowcares.com/PalousePride/PalPride2008.htm

Gay Rights Rally 2008
http://www.moscowcares.com/GayRights

It's the state that doesn't.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom "straight, but not narrow" Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"For a lapsed Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist 
Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go 
to work."

- Roy Zimmerman


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