Should Idaho protect LGBTQ rights, ‘add the words’? Here’s what our survey found
Editor’s note: This story is part of a series on the results of an Idaho Statesman/SurveyUSA poll. Other results: abortion, education, elections.
Most Idahoans believe state law should protect people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, according to a new poll commissioned by the Idaho Statesman.
The survey data indicates broad support for updating the Idaho Human Rights Act to include protections in housing, employment and other areas for gay, bisexual and transgender Idahoans.
The Idaho Statesman/SurveyUSA poll also found that about half of Idahoans believe same-sex marriage should be legal, a major shift since 2006, when nearly two-thirds of Idaho voters OK’d a constitutional amendment banning it.
While support for LGBTQ non-discrimination law and same-sex marriage largely falls along partisan lines, the distinctions aren’t clear-cut.
Idaho Democrats said the polling data represents a vindication of their efforts to back gay and transgender rights.
“We stand with a majority of Idahoans in believing that Idahoans should be protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Idaho Democratic Party Chairwoman and House Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, said in an email to the Statesman.
The LGBTQ rights polling results were part of a statewide poll on several contentious issues in Idaho. Results on questions related to the 2020 election, abortion, marijuana and other topics are being released throughout the week at IdahoStatesman.com. The poll was conducted Oct. 17-20 online and by phone, with the pool of adults surveyed weighted to U.S. Census targets for gender, age, race, education and home ownership.
The Idaho Statesman/SurveyUSA poll asked 550 Idaho residents the following questions related to LGBTQ rights:
Should Idaho law protect people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation?
Should Idaho law protect people from discrimination based on their gender identity?
If the Supreme Court of the United States case that made same-sex marriage legal nationwide is overturned, should same-sex marriage in Idaho be legal? Or should it be against the law?
Respondents’ party affiliations nearly matched the ratio of party affiliations among registered voters in Idaho.
Republicans accounted for 56% of survey respondents, while 58% of registered voters are Republican, according to the Idaho secretary of state’s office. The rate of Democratic respondents — 13% — mirrored voter registration totals. And the 23% of respondents who identified as independent was close to Idaho’s 28% rate of unaffiliated voters.
Broad support for sexual orientation protection
The Idaho Human Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on race, religion and sex, does not include protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity. For nearly two decades, LGBTQ activists have unsuccessfully lobbied Idaho’s Republican-majority Legislature to update the law.
It’s a move most Idaho residents — including many Republicans — would support, according to the new data. Three in five survey respondents — 60% — said state law should protect people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation, while 28% said it should not and 12% said they’re not sure.
The Idaho Human Rights Act has “functioned beautifully to protect people on the basis of religion, the basis of race, and it can do that on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the exact same way,” Cole LeFavour, Idaho’s first openly gay lawmaker, told the Statesman by phone. LeFavour served two terms as a Democrat in the Idaho House and two in the Senate.
Federal law protects people from discrimination in employment, housing, health and other areas based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, but federal laws “regarding these protections are weak,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That’s why dozens of states have passed their own laws protecting the LGBTQ community from discrimination.
The Republican-dominated Idaho Legislature voted on whether to codify LGBTQ non-discrimination protections in 2015, when a legislative committee rejected the idea on a party-line vote. Several other proposals introduced by Democrats — the most recent during this year’s session — weren’t given a hearing.
“Republican lawmakers continue to block our bills,” Necochea said.
Independents and Democrats overwhelmingly said they would support a law protecting people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation.
So did a slight majority of Republicans: 52% of Republicans said they support a non-discrimination law for sexual orientation while 36% said they’re opposed and 12% said they’re not sure.
Opposition to such a law outweighed support only among respondents who identified as “very conservative” — 54% said they’re opposed, 32% said they support it and 14% said they’re unsure.
Shanna Hall, 56, of Pocatello, said she’s a Democrat who doesn’t always agree with that party. She expressed support for legal protections for sexual orientation and gender identity as well as same-sex marriage.
“I’ve raised my kids to respect everybody, whether they’re gay, lesbian, transgender,” Hall said in a follow-up phone interview with the Statesman. “When it comes down to it, we’re all human. You have the right to love who you love.”
Support for LGBTQ non-discrimination measures is stronger among younger Idahoans, according to the poll. Seventy percent of respondents 18-34 and 68% of those 35-49 said they support legal protection for sexual orientation. That’s compared to roughly half among people 50 and older.
Support trended downward as age increased for the other two questions as well.
Fewer respondents support gender identity protection
The Statesman’s survey also showed broad support for a non-discrimination law protecting gender identity, although less so than for sexual orientation.
A little more than half of respondents (52%) said Idaho law should protect people from discrimination based on their gender identity, while 36% said it should not and 12% said they’re not sure.
Eight in 10 Democrats expressed support for gender identity protection, roughly the same amount as those who said they support sexual orientation protection.
Fifty-six percent of independents responded yes to the question about gender identity, after 65% were supportive of sexual orientation protection.
Just 40% of Republicans said they support gender identity protection, while 47% said they oppose such a law and 13% were unsure.
Sarah Mitchell, 59, of Sagle, said she supports legal protection for sexual orientation and same-sex marriage.
“You should be hired and dealt with based on your merits, not on your sexual orientation,” Mitchell told the Statesman in a follow-up interview. “What you do in your own house is your business.”
But Mitchell does not support legal protection for gender identity. The North Idaho Republican, who identifies as more libertarian than traditional Republican, said gender identity is “a fad.”
“It’s a choice, and it’s what’s vogue,” she said.
One reason for the disparity in support between sexual orientation and gender identity protections could be that transgender people in Idaho are less likely to publicize their identity, when they could face discrimination, LeFavour said.
The Idaho Legislature in recent years blocked transgender women and girls from competing in female school sports. Lawmakers also tried to block transgender Idahoans’ ability to change the gender on their birth certificates, but the law was later ruled unconstitutional.
“I imagine part of the problem that you face is that transgender people don’t feel all that safe coming out in a lot of the state right now,” said LeFavour, who uses they/them pronouns. “So a lot of people feel that they don’t know trans people, even though they may. They may have for decades.”
Opposition to same-sex marriage flips
Nearly half of survey respondents (49%) said same-sex marriage should be legal in Idaho. That’s compared to 37% who said it should be against the law and 14% who said they’re not sure.
In 2006, Idaho voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. It passed with 63% of the vote. Idaho was among a wave of states that outlawed same-sex marriage in the mid-2000s.
Many states, like Idaho, continue to statutorily or constitutionally restrict same-sex marriage, although those state laws are unenforceable. The Idaho amendment was ruled unconstitutional in 2014, and the U.S. Supreme Court declared in 2015 that gay couples had the right to marry.
Support for marriage equality, in Idaho and nationally, has shifted, but Idaho appears to be trending behind other states. A June Gallup poll found support for same-sex marriage nationally reached 71%. A majority of U.S. Republicans (55%) support same-sex marriage, according to a 2021 Gallup poll.
In Idaho, just 34% of Republicans support same-sex marriage, according to the Statesman poll. Fifty-four percent said it should be illegal.
Meanwhile, 78% of Democrats and 62% of independents said same-sex marriage should remain legal in Idaho if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its 2015 decision. Experts say that’s a possibility for the conservative court, which earlier this year abandoned long-standing federal protections for abortion.
Conservative activists believe the abortion decision opens the door for reconsideration on other issues, like same-sex marriage, said Kerry Hunter, a political economy professor at College of Idaho, during a forum last week at the Caldwell school.
“It certainly is on the agenda of certain activist groups to look at that kind of question next,” Hunter said.
