Idaho Legislators: We Will NOT Protect LGBTQ Citizens from Discrimination

 

 

Post-it(r) notes are a sticky subject at the Idaho capital.  Members of a group called “Add the Words” was halted by state troopers while placing post-it notes on the glass state capital doors.  Their message?  Add the words “sexual orientation and gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Bill.  Since October Idahoans have been mailing and emailing messages asking lawmakers to give legislation protecting the   LGBTQIA population from discrimination a hearing and pass the legislation.

While efforts have been going on since October to have a Human Rights Bill be heard by the House State Affairs Committee legislators were stunned and shocked when the “Add the Words” campaign showed up on their marble door step.  In Idaho, the House State Affairs Committee refused to give the Human Rights Bill a hearing for the fifth year in a row.  Sounds like they’re taking a page out of the Utah LDS Legislator handbook.

[Cody Hafner]  invites the public to post their own sticky notes or if you can’t make it to Boise you can send your request to your lawmakers to amend the Human Rights Bill by submitting it to the Add The Words, Idaho website at www.addthewords.org.There will be an Add the Words, Idaho fundraising party this Thursday, January 12th, from 5:30-8:30 PM at the Beside Bardenay on the Basque Block in Downtown Boise. It will be hosted by more than 30 human rights leaders from across the state. Cost is a $10.00 to $100.00 donation at the door. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION. If you can not attend, you can send a donation to: Add the Words PAC Box 2661 Boise, ID 83701.

via Idaho State Police Attempt to Halt Sticky Note Campaign « The Idaho Agenda.

Idaho Athletes Investigated for Forcibly Penetrating Fellow Athletes

Students Charged with Forcible Penetration

 

An investigation into sexual hazing in southeast Idaho that has embroiled a member of Boise State University’s powerhouse football team has grown to include more victims, authorities said on Thursday.

Three college football players and two others are facing a raft of sexual crime, battery and false imprisonment charges stemming from incidents at a high school in Blackfoot, Idaho, last year, according to court documents.

Police say the five athletes forcibly penetrated fellow members of the high school basketball team and battered and restrained the victims in a locker room and on a school bus during a three-month period that began last December.

 Charged are Anthony Clarke, now a freshman wide receiver at Boise State University, Nathan Walker, a tight end for the Idaho State University Bengals, Logan Chidester, a freshman on the football team at Carroll College in Montana and Tyson Katseanes of Blackfoot, all 19.

 A fifth, unnamed defendant has been charged as a juvenile in the case.

Blackfoot Police Captain Kurt Asmus said on Thursday that law enforcement officials had contacted additional victims since charges were filed earlier this month based on allegations made by four people.

 “It has mushroomed from there,” Asmus said. “Now that everything is out, more victims are coming forward because they realize they are not alone and they don’t need to be afraid or embarrassed.”

 He said authorities are tracking leads in other states and that additional charges were likely.

 University officials were reluctant to comment on the players, all of whom have been suspended from their teams. Frank Zang, spokesman for Boise State, said Clarke, a freshman walk-on, had yet to play in the 2010 season.

Boise State, which plays on its signature blue painted field, was ranked among the top ten teams in the nation at the end of the regular season.

via High school hazing probe embroils Boise State football player | Reuters.

Related Articles

• World of American college football is rocked by a sex probe into team initiation ceremonies (dailymail.co.uk)
• Did Their High School Rape Hazing Just Catch Up To These College Football Players? (queerty.com)
• Boise State, Idaho State Freshmen Football Players Charged With Hazing That Took Place In High School (thebiglead.com)
• More Sad ‘Athletes Gone Wild’ Wretchedness (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
• Boise State Football: President Robert Kustra Addresses Loss to Nevada on NPR (bleacherreport.com)