Add The Words, Idaho is an LGBTQ2A activist group and political action committee (PAC) in the United States, extant since 2010,[1] which advocates adding the words "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the state's human rights act;[2] this group grew out of several others which had been advocating the same. After ten years, however, Add The Words activist have been unable to achieve even one state-wide protection for LGBTQ2A Idahoans. An associated all-volunteer direct action group, Add The 4 Words Idaho, under the leadership of former state senator Nicole LeFavour, undertook a series of civil disobedience protests beginning on February 3, 2014, at the Statehouse.[3][4][5] (The PAC and the direct action group are commonly conflated as Add The Words. This article covers the series of peaceful direct actions/protests, the associated peaceful demonstrations, and the resultant printing and hearing of HB 002, which ultimately died in committee.)
Under the leadership of the Add the 4 Words group, 44 people were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing, having blocked the Idaho Senate's entrances for more than two hours in a silent protest[6] two months in the planning.[7][8][9][10] Three of those arrested were juveniles, and LeFavour herself was, unexpectedly,[11] the last person to be arrested after the Idaho Senate voted to suspend its rule which allows former members to be on the Senate floor.[12]
Add The 4 Words Idaho announced in a press release that "We are here to insist the Idaho Legislature finally add four words, 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity,' to Idaho's Human Rights Act to prevent the suicides, beatings, loss of jobs, evictions and the fear that too many gay and transgender Idahoans live with every day. We do this for those who live in fear and those who may despair this year if no one speaks for them.... Gay and transgender Idahoans have tried every means to get the Legislature to consider the ‘Add the Words’ legislation. If the Legislature again chooses to ignore us and not hear or vote on the bill, we are prepared to peacefully remain here to bring attention to the issue and the Legislature's failure to protect those in our community from harm."
A second demonstration of at least 65 people was held February 13; no arrests were made, inasmuch as the protestors silently surrounded the Statehouse rotunda after being refused entry into the Senate and House galleries (where political demonstrations are not allowed, including the wearing of T-shirts with political slogans).[13]
A third demonstration of roughly 200 people was held at the Statehouse on February 17, filling multiple rotunda floors. No arrests were made as it was a mass non-arrest demonstration; the activists mingled freely with representatives from Idaho's livestock industry and schoolchildren promoting school choice.[14]
At a fourth protest, held on February 20, 32 protesters were arrested,[15] and at a fourth, held on February 27, 46 were arrested.[16] By the end of February 2014, 122 arrests had been made (with some protestors having been arrested than once, and all of whom are being represented pro bono),[17] and negotiations between LGBTQ2A-rights advocates and religiously conservative legislators had tentatively begun.[18]
On March 4, 23 arrests at a fifth protest were made when demonstrators blocked public and private entrances to Gov. "Butch" Otter's office.[19] Former State Senator Nicole LeFavour (arrested four times in five weeks[20]) remarked the protesters were particularly concerned about the lack of discrimination statutes on gay teens in the state, given that a Pocatello, Idaho homosexual teenager had recently committed suicide after being bullied at school, whereas Gov. Otter expressed concern, given the continuing nature of the protests, that the targeted closing of the legislative session (which takes $30,000 a day to operate) for March 21 may be delayed,[21] and the Idaho State Police, which patrols the Statehouse but which perforce has had to pull several highway patrol officers from their usual duties in surrounding counties in order to perform the mass arrests, estimates that at a cost of $3,000 to $6,600 per arrest that the protests have cost taxpayers $19,600 as of March 6.[22]
On March 12, Nicole LeFavour and several others were arrested at the Idaho Statehouse (at least her sixth arrest).[23]
On March 2, 2015, 22 activists were arrested.[24] The campaign continues to have the support of many small Idaho businesses.[25]
On January 16, 2016, 600 people rallied on the capitol steps in support of adding the words, a position on which they shall not, as a matter of human rights, compromise;[26] there was a small counter-demonstration.[27]
Juristical consequences
In late July 2014 at a packed court hearing more than twenty activists (those who had been arrested at least twice) were sentenced to community service and dealt court fines, having agreed to plea deals; most received ten hours of community service and a $10 fine for each charge against them, and some had some charges dropped, whereas Nicole LeFavour, who as one of the group's leaders was arrested seven times, received 70 hours of community service and $70 in fines.[28]
Support
Republican former governor Phil Batt, who has a gay grandson and who authored the state's 1969 Human Rights act,[29] supports Add The Words;[30] Idaho is one of 28 states which does not specifically protect LGBTQ2A people from discrimination in employment and housing.[31]
Clergy and laity associated with the Interfaith Equality Coalition, amongst other Idaho citizenry,[32] have been providing moral support to the ongoing protests during the legislative session by holding silent vigils at 12:04p.m. daily;[33] other peaceful demonstrations also continued.[34][35][36] Following the adjournment sine die, the activists made plans to take their training sessions to the local, civic level in various cities as requested, beginning with Moscow and McCall but also including Twin Falls, Pocatello, and Idaho Falls, in light of the Idaho legislature's non-engagement with Republican and Mormon families who deal with LGBT issues daily.[37] Furthermore, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has noted that "when a government allows the civil rights of any group to be compromised, the rights of all groups are compromised", and has sent its expert on voter turn-out to the state,[38] and MDG Films is producing a documentary on the campaign which had a test screening at the historic Egyptian Theatre on June 15, 2014.[39]
Impact on legislation
On January 15, 2015, the House Ways and Means committee voted 9–1 to send House Bill 2 (HB 002) to the House State Affairs committee for a hearing, finally printing the bill for consideration after nine years.[40][41] On the 17th a rally of more than a thousand people was held on the steps of the Statehouse.[42]
On January 29, 2015, after nearly 21 hours of testimony spread over three days from 190 people, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee ultimately voted 13-4 along party lines (Republican-Democrat) to keep the bill in committee, effectively killing it for the legislative session.[43][44] 134 people had spoken in favor of the bill, 54 were opposed, and two were neutral, and impromptu reprises of the "hands over mouth" silent demonstrations took place in the corridors of the statehouse after the committee's final vote, some of whom wept.[45] Rep. Ken Andrus, R-Lava Hot Springs, remarked to supporters of the bill that "We have come a long way. I think this very hearing has brought us a long, long way... Do not despair. Your concerns are legitimate, very legitimate, and people in Idaho and in the Legislature have heard you and are hearing you." Furthermore, some members who had voted against the bill expressed possible support for a future compromise bill, and the Idaho Statesman had editorialized in support of the bill itself.[46] The Ada County Highway District commission had the night before added the words under its own aegis.[47] On January 18, 2019, Boise senator Maryanne Jordan proposed adding the words in a personal bill SB1015 (such bills do not require committee perusal). Furthermore, such legislation had not been introduced in the two legislative sessions prior, and most of her Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate were co-signers.[48]
As of January 10, 2020, Add The Words, Idaho Chairwoman Chelsea Gaona-Lincoln (also Chairwoman of the Canyon County Democratic Party) has been unable to lead the Add The Words movement to a win. In spite of the repeated failure of the group to effect statewide change, several localities have passed measures which protect LGBTQ2A citizens - Boise, Coeur d'Alene, Driggs, Idaho falls, Ketchum, Lewiston, Moscow, Meridian, Pocatello, Sandpoint, Twin Falls and Victor as well as Latah County. Notably, Canyon County is absent of any protections in spite of being home to the Chairwoman of Add The Words, Idaho. Critics of the movement has questioned whether Idaho should support behavior that is explicitly against the teachings of the Bible. However, Utah enacted such protections in 2015 in cooperation with entities such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. During the 2020 I Idaho Legislative session it is unlikely that protections will even be broadly discussed.
The Boise–Nampa, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is an area that encompasses Ada, Boise, Canyon, Gem, and Owyhee counties in southwestern Idaho, anchored by the cities of Boise and Nampa. It is the main component of the wider Boise–Mountain Home–Ontario, ID–OR Combined Statistical Area, which adds Elmore and Payette counties in Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon. It is the state's largest officially designated metropolitan area and includes Idaho's three largest cities: Boise, Nampa, and Meridian. Nearly 40 percent of Idaho's total population lives in the area.
George Vernon Hansen was a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Idaho. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years, representing Idaho's 2nd district from 1965 to 1969 and again from 1975 to 1985.
KBOI-TV is a television station in Boise, Idaho, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside low-power CW+ affiliate KYUU-LD. Both stations share studios on North 16th Street in downtown Boise, while KBOI-TV's transmitter is located at the Bogus Basin ski area summit in unincorporated Boise County.
KIVI-TV is a television station licensed to Nampa, Idaho, United States, serving the Boise area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, which provides certain services to Caldwell-licensed Fox affiliate KNIN-TV under a shared services agreement (SSA) with Marquee Broadcasting. Both stations share studios on East Chisholm Drive in Nampa, while KIVI-TV's transmitter is located at the Bogus Basin ski area summit in unincorporated Boise County.
Boise Towne Square is a mall in the western United States, located in Boise, Idaho. The largest retail complex in the state, it opened in 1988 after more than 20 years of planning, and features 150 stores, with Macy's, JCPenney, Kohl's and Dillard's as anchor stores. The mall also includes the first Apple Store in Idaho. Boise Towne Square is owned by the Chicago-based Brookfield Properties and is located near the junction of Interstate 84 and Interstate 184.
Nicole LeFavour is an American politician and educator from Idaho who served as an Idaho State Senator from 2008 to 2012. LeFavour previously served in the Idaho House of Representatives from 2004 to 2008.
Interstate 84 (I-84) in the U.S. state of Idaho is a major Interstate Highway that traverses the state from the Oregon state line in the northwest to Utah state line in the southeast. It primarily follows the Snake River across a plain that includes the cities of Boise, Mountain Home, and Twin Falls. The highway is one of the busiest in Idaho and is designated as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway.
Bradley Jay Little is an American politician serving as the 33rd governor of Idaho since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Idaho from 2009 to 2019 and as an Idaho state senator from 2001 to 2009.
Russell Mark Fulcher is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Idaho's 1st congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he represented the 21st district in the Idaho Senate from 2005 to 2012 and the 22nd district from 2012 until 2014.
Valley Regional Transit is a public agency which is the main provider of mass transit service in metropolitan Boise, Idaho. Nineteen routes operate in Ada County with seven of these providing six-day-per-week service in Boise. An on-demand service is provided in Canyon County. Four intercounty commuter lines are also offered. Both a peak hour express route and an all-day limited-stop incarnation of the same route connect Nampa and Meridian. Service also connects Boise State University with the College of Western Idaho in Nampa in which a third route directly links the two. A fourth express route only runs twice per day in each direction connecting Caldwell and Boise.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Idaho face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT people. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Idaho, and same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since October 2014. State statutes do not address discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; however, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County established that employment discrimination against LGBT people is illegal under federal law. A number of cities and counties provide further protections, namely in housing and public accommodations. A 2019 Public Religion Research Institute opinion poll showed that 71% of Idahoans supported anti-discrimination legislation protecting LGBT people, and a 2016 survey by the same pollster found majority support for same-sex marriage.
Christy Perry is a Republican Idaho State Representative since 2010 representing District 11 in the B seat.
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Brandon Antone Hixon was an American politician and an Idaho Republican Party member of the Idaho House of Representatives from 2012 to 2017, representing District 10, Seat A. He resigned in late 2017 while under criminal investigation and killed himself in January 2018.
The 2016 Idaho Democratic presidential caucuses took place on March 22 in the U.S. state of Idaho as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Gregory Dallas Chaney is an American attorney and politician serving as a Republican member of the Idaho House of Representatives from the 10B district. He assumed office in 2014.
John Thomas Ahlquist III is an American businessman, commercial real-estate developer, and retired physician from Idaho. He is the CEO of the development firm, Ball Ventures Ahlquist (BVA) and founder and medical director of MN Solutions. Prior to that, he was the COO of the Gardner Company where he helped develop projects like the Eighth & Main building and City Center Plaza in downtown Boise. He was a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for Governor of Idaho in the 2018 Idaho gubernatorial election.
Ben Adams is an American politician serving as a member of the Idaho House of Representatives from the 13B district. Elected in November 2020, he assumed office on December 1, 2020.
Health Freedom Idaho is an anti-vaccine group that also opposes health regulations, such as mask requirements and restrictions on the operation of businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Founded sometime shortly before October 2016, the organization describes its mission as including "preserv[ing] our freedoms in regard to the health care of our choice." While the group's activities have mainly taken place in the Boise area, the organization has a northern chapter.
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