Freedom is the core of American values, but many Idaho lawmakers are undermining it | Opinion
No matter your political affiliation, you should be quite alarmed at what the Idaho Legislature is doing right now, right under our noses.
We’re still at the beginning of this legislative session, and already some legislators are attempting to further whittle away open access to information, our ability to make decisions about our own bodies, and the separation of church and state — all core to the founding principles of our country.
At the ACLU of Idaho, we are alarmed by what we’re seeing this year.
Sure, you’ve heard that before, and it’s been true before as well, but we’ve noticed a troubling trend in recent years of party over policy, to devastating effects. As politics become more polarized and fringe groups increase their control on parties, proposed bills stray further away from what the majority of people want, and instead cater to loud extremists. The toxicity feeds into itself, leaving many Idahoans on both sides of the aisle wondering what’s happened to our communities.
So, instead of addressing Idaho’s persistent issues such as chronic underfunding for education, lawmakers are undermining equal rights. And the easiest groups to pick on are the most historically disenfranchised.
As a nonprofit non-partisan organization, the ACLU of Idaho is careful to analyze bills that affect civil liberties in an unbiased way, with a lens for intentional or unintentional consequences to a person’s freedom to make choices about their livelihood, body, religion and health care.
Although the ACLU of Idaho has a history of agreeing with and partnering with both Republicans and Democrats, we’ve found it harder to negotiate with lawmakers who are allowing themselves to be pulled further to the right, aiming for more control over other people’s lives and decisions.
The same party that claims to loathe government overreach champions bills that attack the rights of transgender Idahoans to live authentic lives. Taking away their ability to access health care, barring them from sports with their gender peers, forbidding them to enter public bathrooms they feel safe in – none of this legislation makes anyone “freer,” but rather takes rights away from transgender Idahoans while not affecting cisgender Idahoans at all.
The same party that claims to despise government censorship champions bills to ban books that contain gay characters or references to gay relationships. These bills actively attack free enterprise by using the government to restrict an array of books people may choose to access, making us less free to make choices for ourselves and our children.
If you prefer to live as the sex you were born, you do not have to live in Idaho as a transgender person. If you don’t identify as gay, you are not forced to enter into relationships with people of your same gender. If you don’t like abortion, don’t get one.
Nobody elected to power in Idaho has the right to dictate how Idahoans must live their lives. That is infringing on someone else’s liberty and freedom.
What the far-right is doing is steering us away from a free democracy and closer instead to an authoritarian theocracy. Under the guise of supposed “Christian” values, legislators work to take away options and rights rather than solidifying or expanding them, which forces all Idahoans to live under religious rules that may not align with their actual beliefs and values.
There is nothing more un-American than that.
We’re not trying to simply attack Republicans or haphazardly champion Democrats. We’ve agreed with and partnered with both sides of the political spectrum, and will continue to do so when appropriate. The ACLU is currently defending the NRA in a lawsuit against New York for infringing on its First Amendment rights. Here in Idaho, nearly a decade ago, we partnered with the now-far-right Idaho Freedom Foundation to demand better government transparency, but have agreed with none of their stances since.
We specialize in recognizing attacks on individual liberties, and defending against them. That nearly all attacks on people’s rights have come from one side of the aisle for the past handful of years does not make the ACLU biased. It makes one political party wayward.
Practice the religion that feeds your soul; don’t make someone else practice your religion. Live your life how you want to; don’t take away someone else’s ability to do the same.
The ACLU will never stop defending the rights of Idahoans to live and worship as they choose, no matter where attacks come from. And that’s a promise.