LGBT rights in Idaho

LGBT rights in Idaho
Idaho (US)
Same-sex sexual activity legal?	Legal since 2003 (Lawrence v. Texas)
Gender identity/expression	State does not alter sex on birth certificates for transsexuals
Discrimination protections	None statewide
Family rights
Recognition of relationships	Marriage
Adoption	Yes

Homosexual activity is legal in Idaho, and same-sex couples can marry in Idaho.

Laws regarding same-sex sexual activity

.

For centuries, Idaho outlawed sodomy, defined to include both oral and anal sexual conduct with fines and the possibility of life imprisonment.

Efforts to modify the law by the legislature and state courts so that it didn't apply to private, noncommercial, consensual sexual activity between adults, repeatedly failed.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas rendered laws banning adult, private, consensual, noncommercial sexual activity unenforceable.^[1]

As of 2014, the state's sodomy law, though unenforceable, had not been repealed by Idaho legislators.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

Idaho voters adopted a constitutional amendment 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."^[2] Similar restrictions had been incorporated in the state's statutes in the 1990s.^[3] A ruling in the case of Latta v. Otter on May 13, 2014, found these prohibitions unconstitutional. Enforcement of the ruling in that case has been stayed while the case is appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.^[4]

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.^[5] State officials failed to receive a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court while they pursued further appeals, and Idaho Governor Butch Otter announced the state would no longer attempt to preserve its denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples.^[6] On October 15, 2014, approximately 100 same-sex couples obtained marriage licenses at the Ada county clerk's offices.^[7]

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 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 married another woman in California and sought to adopt her wife's 2 teenage sons.^[8]

Discrimination protection

Map of Idaho counties and cities that have sexual orientation and/or gender identity anti–employment discrimination ordinances

  Sexual orientation and gender identity with anti–employment discrimination ordinance

  Sexual orientation and gender identity solely in public employment

  Sexual orientation in public employment

  Does not protect sexual orientation and gender identity in employment

No provision of Idaho law explicitly addresses discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation or gender identity,^[9] a continuing omission which prompted the Add the Words, Idaho campaign of civil disobedience in 2014.^[10]

The following Idaho cities have ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity: Boise,^[11] Coeur d'Alene,^[11] Driggs,^[12] Idaho Falls,^[13] Ketchum,^[11] Lewiston,^[14][15] Moscow,^[11] Meridian,^[16] Pocatello,^[17] Sandpoint^[11] and Victor.^[18]

The city of Twin Falls^[14] has an ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation only.

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.^[19]

On February 10, 2012, the Senate State Affairs Committee, by a 7-2 vote, killed a bill that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in jobs, housing, educational opportunities and public accommodations.^[20] In April 2014, a series of protests collectively known as Add the Words began which resulted in numerous arrests.^[21]

On May 20, 2014, the voters of Pocatello, Idaho, 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.^[22]

On January 15, 2015, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 6-1 to hold a hearing on a bill that adds language banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's Human Rights Act. It had been denied a hearing in each of the preceding nine years.^[23] On January 29, the House State Affairs Committee voted 13-4 against the bill.^[24]

Hate crime laws

Idaho's hate crimes law does not address hate crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation.^[25]

References