Idaho Legislature’s bigotry is what makes Boise’s Pride flag necessary | Opinion

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Monday advanced a bill that would retaliate against the city of Boise for continuing to fly the Pride flag by banning cities from flying newly adopted flags.

Because, naturally, lawmakers from everywhere other than Boise should make decisions about what flags Boise should fly, not local elected officials or local voters.

This is your annual reminder that in the Idaho Legislature, the term “federalism” has a special meaning. It does not mean that powers are balanced among federal, state and local government, with the recognition that government closest to the people represents them best. For most Republican state lawmakers, what federalism means is that all governmental powers properly belong to the Idaho Legislature.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, who accused the city of being “insubordinate” by following the letter of the law enacted last year while evading its intent.

What insubordination exactly? The Legislature wrote a law, and by universal agreement, the city follows the law. The Pride flag was adopted as an official city flag in 2025.

What Hill meant when he declared Boise to be insubordinate is that the city refused to follow what everyone knew the Legislature intended (ban the Pride flag), not what it actually did (ban unofficial flags). In other words, this is not a legislative body. The Legislature will say, “Jump”; cities will say, “How high?”

“It was designed to prevent one city from flying one flag,” Boise Mayor Lauren McLean correctly summed up the matter in testimony.

This is rather obvious. The new version of the bill changes the flag law to allow only city flags adopted prior to 2023. What is the state interest in that particular date? Only one thing: It is prior to Boise’s decision to adopt the Pride flag as an official flag, following the letter of the law while circumventing its bigoted intent.

Because the Legislature’s one and only interest in Boise’s Pride flag is not political neutrality. It is bigotry.

Political and religious messages abound in official city emblems throughout the state, and always have.

The city seal of Ammon features a handcart pioneer and the old meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with values like “faith,” “family” and “community.” The city seal of Jerome includes a church steeple, as does the seal and flag of the city of Nampa. These facts have not resulted in legislation, which puts the lie to the excuse that this is about political or religious neutrality.

This is also obvious from statements made by House State Affairs Chairman Brent Crane, R-Nampa, who ahead of the vote assured committee members that he was confident there was an as-yet-undisclosed path to ensuring the Basque flag could be flown, attempting to settle concerns that it would be banned under the terms of the new bill.

In other words: Don’t worry folks, we’re just here to ban the Pride flag. That 2023 date is just a convenient way of doing it.

Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, asked a reasonable question: Why does the Pride flag, rather than the Vatican flag, fly in Boise? Aren’t Catholics also a minority?

There’s a clear answer.

Because every year for the last decade at least, a central objective of the legislative majority has been to take rights from, further marginalize and generally make life worse for LGBTQ+ people who live here.

Nobody is trying to pass laws saying Mass has to be said in English or to ban making the sign of the cross in public — though, if lawmakers continue to let representatives of a Calvinist Christian Nationalist movement write the laws for them, that day too may come. If those things were happening, then we should fly the Vatican flag.

By contrast, the Legislature is right now considering making it a felony for transgender people to use public bathrooms that align with their gender identity, and the House recently passed a bill to revoke city ordinances that ban discrimination against LGTBQ people.

That’s why the Pride flag has to fly in Boise. Because every year, the Legislature returns to Boise and targets the community it represents for abuse.

The Pride flag says we don’t agree with the Legislature’s bigotry.

Insubordination? Exactly.

Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, assistant editor Jim Keyser and community members John Hess, Debbie McCormick and Julie Yamamoto.