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"Add the Words" campaign hopes message sticks

CREATED Jan. 27, 2012

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The note reads: “I lost my son to intolerance last January. Please add the words so we don’t lose any more kids. Julie from Pocatello.”

A volunteer from “Add the Words” looks at the Post-it note, one of 500 sent in by people from around the state.

“I don’t know her personal story,” said Lisa Perry, “but it makes me think that her son possibly committed suicide because he didn’t feel safe being who he was.”

In Idaho, a person can lose their job or housing because they are gay.

For six years, people have made efforts to include the gay and transgender community in Idaho’s Human Rights Act. The effort to add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to existing anti-discrimination laws has gained momentum from the “Add the Words” campaign.

Every day in the Statehouse, volunteers from the “Add the Words” campaign post the notes on glass doors.

They’re taken down almost as quickly as they’re put up. But the group hopes the message sticks.

"Many gay and transgender Idahoans don't feel safe at work,” said volunteer Lisa Perry. “They live in fear that they might be figured out for who they are and be fired just because of that."

In past sessions, lawmakers haven’t given the proposal a public hearing. But that could change.

“I have seen more people in the legislature – especially in the House of Representatives – come out in support of making a change to the law and include gay people in our employment and job protections,” said Sen. Nicole LeFavour. “That is just so promising.”
 

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