LGBT rights in Idaho
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S state of
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 Wyom ...
face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT people. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Idaho, and
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
has been legal in the state since October 2014. State statutes do not address discrimination based on
sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
and
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
; however, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in ''
Bostock v. Clayton County ''Bostock v. Clayton County'', , is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case in which the Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination because they are gay or transgender. T ...
'' 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 The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of political ...
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.


History

Sodomy laws were enacted during the time of the creation of the
Idaho Territory The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho. History 1860s The territory w ...
in the mid-19th century. Settlement by a large number of European-American
immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
introduced
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
to the region, resulting in negative attitudes towards homosexuality. Prior to this, several Native American tribes inhabited the area. These people groups had perceptions of
gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
and
sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
different from that of the Western world. For instance, the
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 ...
people recognize individuals who act, behave and perform tasks typically associated with the opposite gender. The '' kupatke'tek'' are male-bodied individuals who act as women, while the '' titqattek'' are female-bodied individuals who act as men and would become skilled hunters and warriors. In stories, they were regarded as supernatural beings, being able to see into the future and cure illnesses. Similarly, the
Coeur d'Alene people The Coeur d'Alene (also ''Skitswish''; natively ''Schi̲tsu'umsh'') are a Native American nation and one of five federally recognized tribes in the state of Idaho. The Coeur d'Alene have sovereign control of their Coeur d'Alene Reservation, w ...
recognize the term '' st'amia'', which refers to female-bodied individuals who live as men. There were no known legal or social punishments for engaging in homosexual activity among these tribes. The
Idaho Territory The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho. History 1860s The territory w ...
enacted a sodomy statute in 1864, punishing
anal intercourse Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. Ot ...
, whether heterosexual or homosexual, with five years' to life imprisonment. It was extended to include fellatio (oral sex) in 1916 in ''State v. Altwatter''. In 1925, the state passed a sterilization law, providing for the possible forced vasectomy or
salpingectomy Salpingectomy refers to the surgical removal of a Fallopian tube. This may be done to treat an ectopic pregnancy or cancer, to prevent cancer, or as a form of contraception. This procedure is now sometimes preferred over its ovarian tube-sparin ...
of "habitual criminals, moral degenerates and sexual perverts". The legislation was repealed in 1972, having only been used on the "mentally retarded". The sodomy statute criminalized consensual acts as well, a point noted in numerous court cases including ''State v. Moore'' and ''State v. Wilson'' (both decided in 1956), in which two men were independently imprisoned for consensual same-sex sexual activity. Homosexuality entered increasingly more into the public eye from the 1950s onwards, especially after the
Boise homosexuality scandal The Boise homosexuality scandal refers to a sweeping investigation of a supposed "homosexual underground" in Boise, Idaho that started in 1955. Beginning with the arrest of three men in October 1955, the investigation broadened to encompass allegat ...
, at which time it was commonly regarded as a mental illness. In 1971, Idaho passed a law repealing the sodomy statute, to take effect on January 1, 1972, but following opposition by Catholic and Mormon groups, the state overturned the new law and reinstated the original law on April 1, 1972. Starting in the late 20th century and into the 21st century, acceptance and tolerance of LGBT people grew significantly. Consensual sodomy would remain illegal in Idaho for married heterosexual couples until 1995 (''State v. Holden'') and for same-sex couples and unmarried heterosexual couples until 2003 (''Lawrence v. Texas'').


Laws regarding same-sex sexual activity

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 ...
's 2003 decision in ''
Lawrence v. Texas ''Lawrence v. Texas'', 539 U.S. 558 (2003), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that most sanctions of criminal punishment for consensual, adult non- procreative sexual activity (commonly referred to as so ...
'' rendered laws banning consensual sexual activity unenforceable, including Idaho's. As of 2021, the state's sodomy law, though unenforceable, had not been repealed by Idaho legislators. In September 2020, an Idaho man, who was forced to register as a sex offender after having had consensual oral sex with his wife 20 years prior in another state, filed suit against the state. In April 2021 a Montana man appealed a sex offender registration requirement for violating Idaho's crimes against nature law in 1993 with two 16 year old males when he was 18 at Pratt ranch in Gem County, he had served a lengthy 7 year prison term in Idaho before having to register as a sex offender for the consensual sex with the two males. Heterosexual sex between a 16 year old and an 18 year old is legal in Idaho as long as it does not violate the crime against nature statute which bans same sex activity generally. In March 2022, the Idaho Legislature passed a bill to formally repeal the "reinstalled" 1972 sodomy law from the Idaho code. The
Governor of Idaho A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...
signed the bill into law - effective from July 1.


Recognition of same-sex relationships

Idaho voters adopted a
constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...
in November 2006 stating that "A marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state." Similar restrictions had been incorporated in the state's statutes in the 1990s. A ruling 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 ...
'' on May 13, 2014 found these prohibitions unconstitutional. Enforcement of the ruling in that case had been stayed while the case was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On October 7, 2014, the Ninth Circuit upheld the district court ruling that found the state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples unconstitutional. State officials failed to receive a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court while they pursued further appeals, and Idaho 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 the state would no longer attempt to preserve its denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples. On October 15, 2014, approximately 100 same-sex couples obtained marriage licenses 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 offices.


Adoption and parenting

Idaho permits adoption by "any adult person". There are no explicit prohibitions on adoption by same-sex couples or on second-parent adoptions. On February 11, 2014, the
Idaho Supreme Court The Idaho Supreme Court is the state supreme court of Idaho and is composed of the chief justice and four associate justices. The decisions of the Idaho Supreme Court are binding on all other Idaho state courts. The only court that may reverse ...
unanimously overturned a lower court ruling and held that an adoptive parent need not be married. It returned to the lower court the adoption petition of an Idaho woman who had married another woman in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and sought to adopt her wife's two teenage sons. Lesbian couples can access assisted reproduction services, such as
in vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...
. State law recognizes the non-genetic, non-gestational mother as a legal parent to a child born via donor insemination, but only if the parents are married. Idaho law does not regulate the practice of
surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...
. State courts have generally been favorable to couples, same-sex or opposite-sex, who have used the gestational or traditional surrogacy process.


Discrimination protections


Local laws

The following Idaho counties and cities have ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (representing about 40% of the state population):
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 ...
, Bellevue, Boise, Coeur d'Alene, Driggs, Hailey, Idaho Falls,
Ketchum Ketchum may refer to: Towns, cities, and, geographic features * Ketchum, Idaho, United States * Ketchum, Oklahoma, United States * Lake Ketchum, Washington, United States * Ketchum Glacier, a glacier in Antarctica * Ketchum Ridge, a large ridge i ...
, Lewiston,
Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...
,
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Pocatello, Sandpoint, and
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. The city of Twin Falls has an ordinance prohibiting city employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation only.
Latah County Latah County ( ) is a county located in the north central region of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,517. The county seat and largest city is Moscow, the home of the University of Idaho, the state's flagsh ...
bans discrimination against county employees on account of their sexual orientation and gender identity. On May 20, 2014, the voters of Pocatello, by a 50.41% to 49.59% vote, rejected Proposition 1, an initiative that would have repealed the city's ordinance that prohibits discrimination with regard to housing, employment and public accommodations based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity and gender expression.


State laws

No provision of Idaho law explicitly addresses discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. On November 8, 1994, the voters of Idaho, by a 50.38% to 49.62% vote, rejected Initiative 1, an initiative that would have forbid state and local governments from granting minority status and rights based on homosexual behavior. On February 10, 2012, the Senate State Affairs Committee, by a 7–2 vote, rejected a bill that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in jobs, housing, educational opportunities and public accommodations. In April 2014, a series of protests collectively known as
Add The Words, Idaho Add The Words, Idaho is an LGBTQ2A activist group and political action committee (PAC) in the United States, extant since 2010, which advocates adding the words "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the state's human rights act; this group ...
resulted in numerous arrests. In 2015, a bill to add sexual orientation and gender identity nondiscrimination language made some progress, after having been denied a hearing in each of the preceding nine years. On January 15, 2015, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 6–1 to hold a hearing, but on January 29, the House State Affairs Committee voted 13–4 against the bill. In January 2021, a similar nondiscrimination bill was again introduced to the Idaho Legislature.


''Bostock v. Clayton County''

On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ''Bostock v. Clayton County'', consolidated with ''
Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda ''Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda'', 590 U.S. ___ (2020), is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case which ruled that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 employees could not be discriminated against on the basis of se ...
'', and in '' R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission'' that discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is discrimination on the basis of sex, and Title VII therefore protects LGBT employees from discrimination.


Hate crime law

Idaho law does not address
hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...
s based on gender identity or sexual orientation. However, since the ''
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is a landmark United States federal law, passed on October 22, 2009, and signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009, as a rider to the National Defense Auth ...
'' was signed into law in October 2009, U.S. federal law has addressed crimes motivated by the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Hate crimes against LGBT people can be prosecuted in federal court.


Transgender rights

From April 6, 2018 onwards, transgender people in Idaho were allowed to change their birth certificate to accurately reflect their gender identity. The ruling was labelled "a huge win" by transgender activists, who in 2017 had filed a lawsuit challenging the state law. While arguing that transgender people "already face disproportionately high levels of discrimination", the judge asserted that such discrepancies "can create risks to the health and safety of transgender people" and that said discrepancies were "archaic, unjust and discriminatory". On March 30, 2020, Governor Brad Little, attempting to overturn the court ruling, signed legislation (HB 509) barring transgender individuals from changing the sex marker on their birth certificate and prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in sports teams in public school and university settings. The law went into preliminary effect on July 1, 2020, but arguments against it were heard in court on July 22, 2020. On August 7, 2020, before it took permanent effect, District Court Judge David C. Nye said it was moot and unenforceable. The state planned to appeal. In June 2022, the court awarded attorneys' fees to the winning side, and in August 2022, the Idaho Board of Examiners approved the amount of $321,000. It will be paid with taxpayer funds to the civil rights group Lambda Legal. Since March 2019, Idaho allows for a
third gender Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usually ...
option (known as "X") on
driver's licenses A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public r ...
and state ID cards. The outcome of the August 7, 2020 ruling is that anyone applying to change gender markers on driver's licenses and state IDs must submit to the Idaho Department of Transportation a letter from a physician certifying that sex reassignment surgery has been performed. In November 2019, the Idaho Board of Health and Welfare abolished a rule that required a doctor's approval for a gender change for transgender minors but retained parental permission, the minor being emancipated, or a court order. In March 2022
HB 675
was introduced and passed the Idaho House of Representatives. The bill would have made it a felony to provide gender-affirming medical care to transgender youth, and parents who brought their children out-of-state to receive it would have faced life in prison. The Idaho Senate blocked the bill, citing parents rights' and government overreach. In March 2023, several pieces of legislation went into effect passed by the state Legislature and signed by the Governor within Idaho - namely including 3 things (1) the ban on transgender healthcare on children or minors; (2) banning gender pro nouns within schools and classrooms and (3) banning bathroom usage for transgender individuals in all public places.


Public opinion

A 2017
Public Religion Research Institute The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of political ...
(PRRI) opinion poll found that 56% of Idaho residents supported same-sex marriage, while 32% opposed it and 13% were unsure. The same poll found that 68% of Idahoans supported an anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity. 24% were opposed. Furthermore, 51% were against allowing public businesses to refuse to serve LGBT people due to religious beliefs, while 40% supported allowing such religiously-based refusals.


Summary table


See also

* LGBT rights in the United States * Politics and LGBT in the US *
LGBT rights by country or territory Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...


References

{{Idaho LGBT rights in Idaho