Idaho, it’s time to ‘Add the Words’ now — at least for workplace, housing discrimination
Most of us take for granted our ability to talk about our personal lives at work. We put photos of our families on our desk, we talk about what we did over the weekend with our husband or wife, and we share stories about our home life.
Yet, for some people this isn’t a possibility, because their sexual orientation or gender identity could get them discriminated against or even fired.
Idaho has long been a battleground in the call to “Add the Words,” a movement that seeks to add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act, right alongside “race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age [over 40], mental or physical disability.”
Sen. Maryanne Jordan, D-Boise, on Tuesday introduced Add the Words legislation as a personal bill in the Senate.
But some fear that those who hold a genuine religious belief that homosexuality is wrong would be discriminated against for their beliefs.
It’s the intersection of those two concerns that was the subject of a recent Interfaith and LGBT Summit on Religious Liberty and Public Accommodations at the Idaho Capitol.
“I sincerely believe that our LGBTQ friends should never be discriminated against, never be belittled, never be bullied. Never,” Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said emphatically during his remarks at the summit. Likewise, those with religious conviction should never be discriminated against, belittled or bullied, he said.
“Intolerance in either direction is unacceptable,” Hill said. “How do we protect both sides?”
Hill said he has been working on legislation that aims to protect LGBTQ rights as well as religious freedom when it comes to the workplace, housing and public accommodations.
He told me after the summit last week that he doesn’t expect anything to happen this session, but he might introduce the bill for a print hearing, at the very least, to let the public and legislators get a look at the details.
Hill said Idaho has an opportunity to lead the nation with his legislation, which he said is even better than a widely heralded nondiscrimination law passed in 2015 in Utah.
Utah’s law prohibits discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the workplace and housing market, while also creating exemptions for religious organizations and protecting religious speech in the workplace.
Utah’s law does not address public accommodation, such as a photographer shooting a gay wedding or a baker providing a cake for a same-sex ceremony.
Hill’s legislation would address such matters, much like the federal Fairness For All Act, a recently introduced bill that has been applauded by some as a reasonable compromise and derided by others as creating too many exemptions that would allow people to discriminate against LGBTQ people based on religious beliefs.
Hill said both sides have been counting on the courts or a new president or federal legislation to give them a 100% win, and “in the meantime, people are suffering.”
Hill is right in that respect.
Rather than try to solve the much-thornier public accommodations puzzle, Idaho should follow Utah’s lead and pass a nondiscrimination law that applies to working and housing.
Banning discrimination in the workplace and housing would address at least some of the concerns of the Add the Words proponents and begin a dialogue about public accommodation.
At last week’s summit, Idaho state Rep. John McCrostie, D-Boise, and Molly Lenty Dixon, vice president of community relations for Wells Fargo, both made convincing business cases for workplace nondiscrimination.
Both said workplace nondiscrimination policies allow workers to be their best and their whole selves at work, leading to better productivity.
Lenty Dixon said that it’s more than just a financial consideration, though.
It’s also a moral obligation.
Let’s address that moral obligation and tackle workplace and housing discrimination now.
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
