BOISE, Idaho — This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
An “Add the Words” bill was introduced in the Idaho Legislature today, but it was a personal bill, and in the Idaho House, those typically don’t advance. Rep. John McCrostie, D-Garden City, sponsored the bill along with 16 co-sponsors in the House and Senate; it would add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act to make discrimination based on those factors illegal. Currently, there’s no law against such discrimination in Idaho other than local ordinances in an array of jurisdictions, including a dozen cities and Ada County.
Anywhere else in the state, it’s legal to fire someone or deny them housing solely because they’re gay.
A personal bill is one introduced early in the session by individual lawmakers, rather than by vote of a committee. McCrostie said, “You know what happens with personal bills and that’s OK. At least by introducing this as a personal bill, we’re able to get the concept out for public consumption, for public discussion. We can continue to talk about how every Idahoan should have the ability and the freedom to have a job, to have a roof over their head, to be able to go and buy something to eat so that they continue to work and put a roof over their head.”
McCrostie said he was pleased to get the bill introduced early in the session, "and especially to have it done in time to be introduced on Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day."
The change has been introduced in the Idaho Legislature nearly every year for at least the past 16 years. McCrostie recalled that during his first year in the Legislature, eight years ago, the bill got a full, and extensive, hearing. But then it was killed on a party-line vote in committee.
“This has been the bill that we’ve introduced numerous times in my eight years here in the Legislature, and if this is the version that gets through, then that’s awesome,” McCrostie told Eye on Boise. “We can certainly have conversations, and this may not be the perfect bill for Idaho, but let’s figure out what that is.”
Idaho’s local anti-discrimination ordinances generally forbid discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations. The Idaho Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in employment, education, housing and public accommodations on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, or mental or physical disability.
This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
Watch more Idaho politics:
See all of our latest political coverage in our YouTube playlist: