Idaho LGBT rights bill dies in committee

Idaho state Sen. Nicole LeFavour (D) left a Senate committee hearing in tears after a bill she sponsored that would have added protections for gays and lesbians to the Human Rights Act was defeated. In presenting the bill, LeFavour, the the state's only gay lawmaker, told the committee that gays and lesbians in Idaho "live in fear" that they can be fired. "This is a way of prohibiting the most egregious forms of discrimination," she said. "By virtue of its omission, many employers and individuals feel it is OK." About 50 members of the LGBT community filled the Senate State Affairs Committee hoping to see the measure advance to a vote on the Senate floor. They were visibly upset when it was dismissed on a simple voice vote. Sen. Russ Fulcher (R) told that committee: "Senator LeFavour looks at this as a genetic difference and others, including myself, look at this as a behavioral difference. Given that, the debate becomes, 'Do you look at making provisions based on behavior?' " "I'm not interested in giving special rights," he said. "I don't want to see anybody persecuted or harassed, but I think we have an experience of the past showing that when we give special rights to people, it always comes back to bite us." The vote effectively kills the measure this year. A similar bill failed the same way a last year. LeFavour vowed she would bring in the bill again next year.