Bill would ban cities from banning LGBTQ+ discrimination

Under a new bill introduced Wednesday, the Idaho Legislature would ban local policies in more than a dozen cities that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. “In addition to threatening our religious freedoms, all of these conflicting local antidiscrimination ordinances create a tangled web of red tape that varies from city to city, county to county,” Skaug told lawmakers. “In the business sector, it burdens the entrepreneurs and the employers.”The bill comes after more than a decade of failed efforts in the Idaho Legislature to add LGBTQ+ discrimination protections to state law. Chelsea Gaona-Lincoln, executive director of Add the Words Idaho, a group that has pushed for LGBTQ+ antidiscrimination protections, called the bill embarrassing. Idaho Family Policy Center, which wrote the bill, echoed Skaug’s arguments