Same-sex marriage in Idaho has been legally recognized since October 15, 2014. In May 2014, the

U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

in the case of ''

Latta v. Otter ''Latta v. Otter'' is a case initiated in 2013 in U.S. federal court by plaintiffs seeking to prevent the state of Idaho from enforcing its ban on same-sex marriage. The plaintiffs won in U.S. District Court. The case was appealed to the Ninth Cir ...

'' found

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

's statutory and state constitutional bans on

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

unconstitutional, but enforcement of that ruling was stayed pending appeal. The

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

affirmed that ruling on October 7, 2014, though the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

issued a stay of the ruling, which was not lifted until October 15, 2014.

Opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...

s have shown that a majority or plurality of Idaho residents support same-sex marriage.

Legal history

Statutes

After the

Hawaii Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Hawaii is the highest court of the State of Hawaii in the United States. Its decisions are binding on all other courts of the Hawaii State Judiciary. The principal purpose of the Supreme Court is to review the decisions of ...

seemed poised to legalize same-sex marriage in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

in ''

Baehr v. Miike ''Baehr v. Miike'' (originally ''Baehr v. Lewin'') was a lawsuit in which three same-sex couples argued that Hawaii's prohibition of same-sex marriage violated the state constitution. Initiated in 1990, as the case moved through the state courts ...

'' in 1993, the

Idaho Legislature The Idaho Legislature consists of the upper Idaho Senate and the lower Idaho House of Representatives. Idaho is divided into 35 legislative districts, which each elect one senator and two representatives. There are no term limits for either ...

amended its marriage statutes in 1995 to specifically specify that a

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

was to be between a man and a woman. The changes took effect on January 1, 1996. Fearing it would have to recognize same-sex marriages conducted in Hawaii, Idaho further amended its marriage laws to prohibit recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages in 1996. Governor

Phil Batt Philip Eugene Batt (born March 4, 1927) is an American politician who served as the 29th governor of Idaho from 1995 to 1999. Batt had previously served as the 35th lieutenant governor of Idaho, Chair of the Idaho Republican Party, and as a memb ...

signed the legislation, which took immediate effect on March 18, 1996.

Constitutional amendment

On February 11, 2004, the

Idaho House of Representatives The Idaho House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Idaho State Legislature. It consists of 70 representatives elected to two-year terms. The state is divided into 35 districts, each of which elects two representatives to separate se ...

, by a 53 to 17 vote, approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and its "legal equivalent" in the state. The

Idaho State Senate The Idaho Senate is the upper chamber of the Idaho State Legislature. It consists of 35 Senators elected to two-year terms, each representing a district of the state. The Senate meets at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, Idaho. Composition of t ...

failed to vote on the amendment. On February 2, 2005, the Senate, by a 21–14 vote, failed to approve a similar constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and any "legal status similar to that of marriage". On February 6, 2006, the House of Representatives, by a 53 to 17 vote, approved Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and any "domestic legal union" in the state. The Senate approved the constitutional amendment on February 15 by a 26–9 vote, and it was approved by voters on November 7, 2006. The amendment was found to be unconstitutional on May 13, 2014 by a federal district court. The ruling was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on October 7, 2014 and went into effect on October 15, 2014.

Federal lawsuit

Four Idaho lesbian couples filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court in November 2013, challenging the state's ban on

. On May 13, 2014, U.S. Chief Magistrate Candy W. Dale ruled in ''

'' that Idaho's constitutional and statutory prohibitions against same-sex marriage were unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. She wrote: The state appealed the ruling, and on May 20 the

stayed enforcement of Dale's ruling pending the outcome of that appeal and ordered the case heard on an expedited basis. On October 7, 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that the state's same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional, finding that the ban violated the Fourteenth Amendment's right to equal protection. Idaho's county clerks prepared to process

marriage license A marriage license (or marriage licence in Commonwealth spelling) is a document issued, either by a religious organization or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between jurisdictio ...

s for same-sex couples the following day, October 8, until Supreme Court Justice

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Presid ...

, in response to a petition from state officials, granted an emergency

stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

of the Ninth Circuit's implementation of its decision. Don Moline and Clint Newlan were able to obtain a marriage license in Twin Falls before Justice Kennedy issued the temporary stay. On October 10, 2014, Justice Kennedy, after consulting with the other members of the

, denied the request for a stay and

vacated A vacated judgment (also known as vacatur relief) makes a previous legal judgment legally void. A vacated judgment is usually the result of the judgment of an appellate court, which overturns, reverses, or sets aside the judgment of a lower court. ...

the temporary stay. Latah County issued six marriage licenses to same-sex couples on October 10. That same day, the ''Latta'' plaintiffs asked the Ninth Circuit to lift the stay of the district court's order that it had imposed on May 20. The Ninth Circuit gave the parties until October 13 to reply. On October 13, the Ninth Circuit lifted its stay of the district court's order enjoining Idaho officials from enforcing the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The court's lifting of the stay went into effect on October 15, 2014. Rachael and Amber Beierle, plaintiffs in ''Latta'', were the first couple to obtain a marriage license at the

Ada County Ada County is located in the southwestern part of Idaho, United States. As of the 2021 United States census estimate, the county had a population of 511,931, making it by far the state's most populous county; it is home to 26.8% of the state's p ...

Clerk's Office on October 15. Maryanne Jordan, the president of the Boise City Council, officiated at the marriage, and said "It's been such a long time coming." More than 50 marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples that Friday, October 15 in at least 9 of Idaho's counties: Ada,

Bannock Bannock may mean: * Bannock (food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle * Bannock (Indigenous American), various types of bread, usually prepared by pan-frying * Bannock people, a Native American people of what is now southeastern Oregon ...

, Blaine, Bonner, Canyon,

Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

Kootenai The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...

, Latah, and Twin Falls. On October 10, Governor

Butch Otter Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2006, and reelected in 2010, and 2014. Otter ...

announced that he would no longer contest the ruling in ''Latta'' and state agencies would comply when the Ninth Circuit requires Idaho to provide marriage rights to same-sex couples. On October 14, he announced that his office planned to continue defending the state's ban on same-sex marriage. On October 21, he filed a petition for an ''

en banc In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller p ...

'' rehearing by the Ninth Circuit. The plaintiffs filed a response to the petition opposing an ''en banc'' rehearing on November 10, 2014. The Ninth Circuit denied the request for rehearing ''en banc'' on January 9, 2015.

Developments after legalization

A tax conformity bill, which would allow Idaho taxpayers to use federal adjusted gross income on their federal return as a starting point in filling out their Idaho tax form, was opposed by a group of

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

lawmakers in February 2022 who argued that the bill circumvented the Idaho Constitution by approving same-sex marriage. Representative Ron Nate said, "The problem with this is that

he bill He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

does not protect our constitution in Idaho as it was amended in 2006", as the federal government uses its definition of marriage to allow adjustments. Representative

Gregory Chaney Gregory Dallas Chaney (born July 21, 1981) 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. Early life and education Chaney graduated fr ...

disagreed, "Not only are you epresentative Natenot doing a better job of upholding the Idaho Constitution, you are doing an absolutely miserable job of upholding the United States Constitution. This is another example of where we'd get our rear end kicked, summarily, and then we'd pay the attorney sfees for whoever sued us." The bill passed 46–22 in the House.

Native American nations

Same-sex marriage is not recognized on the reservation of the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho. Its Tribal Code states that "'marriage' means the civil status, condition or relation of a man and woman considered united in law as husband and wife". The Law and Order Code of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes states that "'marriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract, to which the consent of parties capable of making it is necessary", but generally refers to married spouses as "husband and wife". However, the code states that marriages entered into outside the tribe's jurisdiction are valid if they are valid in the jurisdiction where they were entered into. Many Native American tribes have traditions of

two-spirit Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ...

individuals who were born male but wore women's clothing and performed everyday household work and artistic handiwork which were regarded as belonging to the feminine sphere. This two-spirit status allowed for marriages between two biological males or two biological females to be performed among some of these tribes. In Shoshone culture, two-spirit individuals are known as (), and performed women's activities but did not always wear women's clothing. Some of them married men, others married women, while others remained unmarried. It was considered inappropriate, however, for two to form a relationship. The

Nez Perce The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...

call them (). They had sexual intercourse with

cisgender Cisgender (often shortened to cis; sometimes cissexual) is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. The word ''cisgender'' is the antonym of '' transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is L ...

men, but it is unclear if they were allowed to marry men. In the

Coeur d'Alene language Coeur d'Alene (Cœur d'Alène, Snchitsu’umshtsn) is a Salishan language. It was spoken by only two of the 80 individuals in the Coeur d'Alene Tribe on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in northern Idaho, United States in 1999. It is considered an ...

, they are known as (). Verne F. Ray reported in 1932 that he had met a Coeur d'Alene ''st̓ámya'' who was

intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bin ...

and remained unmarried. The

Kutenai The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...

, living in the present-day Idaho Panhandle, refer to two-spirit people who were born female but wore men's clothing and performed men's activities as (). One famous Kutenai two-spirit person was

Kaúxuma Núpika Kaúxuma Núpika ("Gone to the Spirits"), also known as Qánqon Kámek Klaúla ("Sitting in the Water Grizzly") or Manlike Woman, was a Kutenai person who lived in the early 19th century.Lee Irwin, ''Coming Down From Above'' (2014), p. 241-242Ria ...

, who, after leaving his White fur trader husband, returned to his people and adopted men's clothing and weapons, and took a wife. Kaúxuma was one of the "principal leaders" of the tribe and supernatural powers were attributed to him. He "is remembered among the Kutenai as a respected shamanic healer", a masculine occupation.

Demographics and marriage statistics

Data from the 2000 U.S. census showed that 1,873 same-sex couples were living in Idaho. By 2005, this had increased to 2,096 couples, likely attributed to same-sex couples' growing willingness to disclose their partnerships on government surveys. Same-sex couples lived in all counties of the state, except Oneida, and constituted 0.6% of coupled households and 0.4% of all households in the state. Most couples lived in

Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...

, Canyon and

counties, but the counties with the highest percentage of same-sex couples were

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

(0.90% of all county households) and Adams (0.77%). Same-sex partners in Idaho were on average younger than opposite-sex partners, and significantly more likely to be employed. However, the average and median household incomes of same-sex couples were lower than different-sex couples, and same-sex couples were also far less likely to own a home than opposite-sex partners. 16% of same-sex couples in Idaho were raising children under the age of 18, with an estimated 417 children living in households headed by same-sex couples in 2005.

Public opinion

A 2022 poll by the ''

Idaho Statesman The ''Idaho Statesman'' is the daily newspaper of Boise, Idaho, in the western United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History The paper was first published as the ''Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman'' on July 26, 1864, by James S. Reynolds ...

''/

SurveyUSA SurveyUSA is a polling firm in the United States. It conducts market research for corporations and interest groups, but is best known for conducting opinion polls for various political offices and questions. SurveyUSA conducts these opinion polls ...

found that 49% of Idaho voters believed same-sex marriage should remain legal if the Supreme Court overturned ''Obergefell'', while 37% opposed, and 14% were unsure. Support was highest among Democrats (78%) and independents (62%), but lowest among Republicans (34%). {, class="wikitable" , +style="font-size:100%" , Public opinion for same-sex marriage in Idaho , - ! style="width:190px;", Poll source ! style="width:200px;", Date(s)
administered ! class=small , Sample
size ! Margin of
error ! style="width:100px;", % support ! style="width:100px;", % opposition ! style="width:40px;", % no opinion , -
Idaho Statesman/Survey USA
, align=center, October 17–20, 2022 , align=center, 550 adults , align=center, ? , align=center, ''49%'' , align=center, 37% , align=center, 14% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
March 8–November 9, 2021
, align=center, ? , align=center, ? , align=center, 62% , align=center, 34% , align=center, 4% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
January 7–December 20, 2020
, align=center, 349 random telephone
interviewees , align=center, ? , align=center, ''48%'' , align=center, 40% , align=center, 12% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
April 5–December 23, 2017
, align=center, 461 random telephone
interviewees , align=center, ? , align=center, 56% , align=center, 32% , align=center, 12% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
May 18, 2016–January 10, 2017
, align=center, 609 random telephone
interviewees , align=center, ? , align=center, 54% , align=center, 36% , align=center, 9% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
April 29, 2015–January 7, 2016
, align=center, 471 random telephone
interviewees , align=center, ? , align=center, ''49%'' , align=center, 41% , align=center, 10% , -
Public Policy Polling
, align=center, October 9–12, 2014 , align=center, 522 likely voters , align=center, ± 4.3% , align=center, 38% , align=center, 57% , align=center, 5% , -
New York Times/CBS News/YouGov
, align=center, September 20–October 1, 2014 , align=center, 594 likely voters , align=center, ± 4.7% , align=center, 33% , align=center, 51% , align=center, 16% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
April 2, 2014–January 4, 2015
, align=center, 309 , align=center, ? , align=center, 53% , align=center, 41% , align=center, 6% , -

References

External links

''Latta v. Otter''
United States District Court for the District of Idaho, May 13, 2014 {{Same-sex marriage in the United States 2014 in LGBT history LGBT in Idaho

2014 in Idaho