Boise Pride Festival pushes for rainbow lights at Capitol despite state’s new ban

The Boise Pride Festival could shine a rainbow of lights on any number of buildings in the city — public or private — but there’s one that means the most: the Idaho Capitol.

That’s where the group and its supporters continue to press state lawmakers to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act so that LGBTQ people will have the same protections in housing and employment that other residents have.

Advocates for “Add The 4 Words” have demonstrated at the Capitol for years, with many being led out by police in handcuffs. Joe Kibbe, a commercial loan specialist who is treasurer for the Boise Pride Festival, said he’s been arrested 10 times.

Festival organizers see deep symbolism in their Capitol light show, and they’re keen on having it for their 30th anniversary celebration this June 14-15. They spent about $5,000 to hire a company to do the light show last year.

“When we dim the Capitol lights, it’s a metaphor for what happens to LGBT individuals in the state: We tend to be put in a dark place. We tend to be forgotten about,” said Kibbe, a 40-year-old who grew up in Boise. “We celebrate coming out into the community, being who we are, and welcoming everybody by illuminating the Capitol building. As a theatrical production, when you lower the lights, the Capitol goes completely black, then a rainbow comes up.”

But the Capitol light show might not happen this year.

Bob Geddes, former director of the Department of Administration, told groups last year that no more outdoor illumination of the Capitol would be permitted due to a “high volume” of requests, the Idaho Press reported last week.

More than 8,400 people have signed an online petition to urge the state agency to allow the lights. And Kibbe is determined to see the show go on.

“It would just be a tremendous loss for the community,” he said during an interview in the Pride Festival office on the 6th floor of the Zions Bank building Thursday.

That’s a ‘high volume’ of requests?

For several years, the Department of Administration has allowed groups to illuminate the Capitol if they provide their own lights and generator.

Geddes said in emails sent in May and June last year that the department would no longer honor those requests. He told the Pride Festival in a May 11 email that “the Capitol would no longer be used as a projection screen for causes.”

“We are becoming overwhelmed with applications, and if some are approved, all must be allowed,” Geddes said in a June 27 email to representatives of seven organizations, including Boise State University.

He concluded the email by saying, “ Thank you for your cooperation, and for also helping retain the dignity of Idaho’s most-treasured building.”

So how many requests do they get in a year? About 10 to 12, a program specialist for the department told the Statesman on Thursday. There’s never been any formal application process to illuminate the Capitol. Groups would usually just call or email Geddes, Diane Blume said.

Kibbe said Geddes told him in a meeting last year that the department had been approached by a neo-Nazi group about doing some sort of light projection at the Capitol, and he naturally had turned the group down. Blume said she had no knowledge of that inquiry.

Sen. Maryanne Jordan, D-Boise, met with new Department of Administration Director Bryan Mooney about a week ago to talk about the lighting ban. She said Thursday that she would like to see any legitimate group, not just the Pride Festival, be able to light up the Capitol.

“At the end of the day, they’re colored lights,” she said. “They may represent something people disagree with, but it’s everyone’s Capitol. They should have the ability to do that if they’re not harming the building. To just blanketly say no one can do this doesn’t make sense to me.”

Mooney was out of state on Thursday, Blume said. He did not return a call for comment.

Boise Pride Festival organizers have asked the City Council to issue a statement of support for the lights at the Capitol. They haven’t heard back.

‘Wholehearted’ support from City Hall

The Boise Pride Festival is now the second-largest pride festival in the Intermountain West, behind only Salt Lake City’s, organizers say. The two-day event, which features live music, food booths and fireworks, attracts an estimated 75,000 participants.

This is an important year — and not just because it’s the 30th anniversary of the Boise festival. It’s also the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City, an uprising that is considered a turning point in LGBT activism.

“This is a big one for us,” said Kibbe. “We’ve come a long way since 1989, when it was a small group of individuals in the park, and those individuals had to wear paper bags to mask their identities ... Back in the late ’80s, it was not safe to be an LGBT individual here in Boise.”

The theme this year is “Pride Through the Decades,” and Boise Mayor David Bieter is the grand marshal for the parade. The parade will have 30 floats and about 1,100 walkers.

Kibbe said that in talks with city officials earlier this year, the city offered to allow the festival to light up one or more buildings, including the Boise Depot, the library and City Hall.

“The city is a wonderful supporter,” he said. “They wholeheartedly work with us. They helped us develop our ‘Welcoming City’ business program this year. Myself and the City Council president developed the banners that you saw in the Downtown core last year in the month of June.”

Boise spokesman Mike Journee confirmed Thursday that the city had been in talks with Boise Pride Festival about possible locations.

“We’re willing and happy to work with them if they need backup locations,” he said.

This story was originally published May 9, 2019 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Boise Pride Festival pushes for rainbow lights at Capitol despite state’s new ban."