BOISE, Idaho — During this year's legislative session, multiple bills surrounding the LGBTQ+ community made their way through the legislature. Some even becoming law in Idaho.
HB 71, which criminalizes gender-affirming care for minors, will go into effect on January 1 of next year.
"In signing this bill, I recognize our society plays a role in protecting minors from surgeries or treatments that can irreversibly damage their healthy bodies," Governor Brad Little wrote in a letter after signing the bill. "However, as policy makers, we should take great caution whenever we consider allowing the government to interfere with loving parents and their decisions about what is best for their child."
The signing of the ban drew national attention. Earlier in the session, the governor signed the "bathroom bill", making children in public schools use the bathrooms of their biological sex and not their gender identity.
“I think the word I’ve been using a lot is less settled," said Rachael Bazzett, a therapist working with the LGBTQ+ community. "There are questions about am I safe here? Can I continue to live here? Am I going to be supported here, is it going to be a dangerous place for me to be?”
Bazzett says the new legislation has had an impact on Trans-youth in Idaho, and that it might cause families to start leaving the state.
Earlier this month, the ACLU sued Idaho over the law, hoping to block the enforcement.
"We know LGBTQ people are crucial members of our community," said Amy Dundon, a Legislative Strategist for ACLU of Idaho in an email to Idaho News 6. "We will not stop defending their rights, including the right to free expression, representation, and the civil rights and liberties we all hold dear."
Other bills regarding different aspects of LGBTQ+ culture were also introduced, though several failed.
Multiple bills centered around drag shows were introduced, aiming to ban minors at drag shows and banning public drag performances.
Supporters of the bill say drag shows are sexualized and shouldn't be available to minors. But drag performers say it is their art and works as a form of expression.
“It mixes a lot of things that I was really passionate about growing up, fashion, design, just being ridiculous," said Vice, a drag performer about what drew them to drag culture. Vice chose to go by their stage name during an interview with Idaho News 6.
Vice has performed in the Boise area for over a decade. They say that almost all of the shows they perform in are for ages 21 and over, and the drag events for kids have a different appropriateness level than the ones for adults.
“These bills are not only a made-up problem, but they’re a made-up problem that’s been adopted from other cities that's not solving for a problem here," comments Vice.
