WARBLOGGING 11:31 am February 13, 2012

Idaho’s Gays To Be Discriminated Against, Forever

Well, well, well, would you look at that. America’s pointless Culture Wars continue, completely unabated by time or human decency. Ladies, and the happenings in and about their reproductive and erogenous zones, have hogged the media shine the past few weeks, what with Battle for Breast Cancer, and the Pope refusing to cough up one thin dime for even generic anti-baby pills. There was a glitter-bombing or two in the mix but this week the Sub-War Against the Gays appears to really be gaining steam. Of note, the Idaho state senate got together Friday to pointedly not vote for (or even DEBATE!) a measure that would have added protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s Human Rights Act. Which means that, as we speak, Rick Santorum is down in the root cellar, wandering through the vast stores of indignation and smug contempt contained therein, and gleefully pinching off the choicest morsels. SHOULD BE A FUN WEEK for all of us, to die in, probably from bigoted dumbness.

The Spokesman-Review is our witness to the atrocities:

Efforts to prohibit employment and housing discrimination against gay people in Idaho were rejected Friday by a state Senate committee as a shocked crowd of more than 250 supporters of the human rights bill looked on.
The committee, which includes all four members of the Senate GOP’s top leadership, refused to introduce the bill, thus barring a public hearing on it.
[...]
In Boise, state Senate Minority Leader Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello, told the Senate State Affairs Committee that his “Add The Words” bill would amend the Idaho Human Rights Act to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The cowards and/or bigots opposing the bill have so closed themselves off from the public scorn they so richly deserve that backers felt forced to leave hundreds of Post-It type notes on the doors of the Capitol, urging the senators to just “add the words” already. Oh, well. Maybe the EIGHTH introduction of this bill next year will be the charm!!! [Spokesman Review]

97 comments

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{ 97 comments }

nounverb911 February 13, 2012 at 11:33 am

Idaho? That's the state named after a prostitute?

LabRodent February 13, 2012 at 11:45 am: The Question being "who you be?"

V572 Flambé February 13, 2012 at 11:34 am

It's their deep religious convictions that makes it okay for Idaho legislators to do that. Plus Mark Furman has a retirement home in Sand Point.

Chillwillard February 13, 2012 at 11:34 am

Besides potatos and Larry Craig, what is Udaho famous for again?

nounverb911 February 13, 2012 at 11:40 am

Ernest Hemingway?

V572 Flambé February 13, 2012 at 11:49 am

Papa was from Oak Park, IL, a town whose only other distinction is that it contains a number of houses designed by F.L. Wright.

Canmon February 13, 2012 at 11:54 am

But, he shot himself in Idaho.

HistoriCat February 13, 2012 at 12:05 pm: Can you blame him?

freakishlywrong February 13, 2012 at 11:41 am

Gay cowboys. "Cowpokes" they call em'

Terry February 13, 2012 at 12:16 pm: Cowpokes aren't the gay cowboys. They're the ones that, well, poke cows.

johnnyzhivago February 13, 2012 at 11:47 am

Laser Printers! Boise is the home of the HP Printer Division…

BaldarTFlagass February 13, 2012 at 11:47 am

A bright blue football field that gives me a headache when I try to watch a BSU game?

Lascauxcaveman February 13, 2012 at 11:59 am

Try adjusting the tint and color dealies on your teevee set. If worse comes to worse, you can watch it in black and white.

BaldarTFlagass February 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm: I just change the channel. It's easier.

Negligently_Joe February 13, 2012 at 11:49 am

Hitler!

Dashboard Buddha February 13, 2012 at 12:07 pm

Big skies and wide stances

orygoon February 13, 2012 at 12:08 pm

Neo-Nazis running for town council in Hayden?

bagofmice February 13, 2012 at 12:17 pm

Knickers?

GarColga February 13, 2012 at 12:35 pm

Philo Farnsworth, generally credited with inventing television, was from Rigby Idaho.

Gunner Asch February 13, 2012 at 1:36 pm

Having the only Spaghetti Factory I've ever been able to just walk into and get a seat.

GOPCrusher February 13, 2012 at 1:55 pm

The place where Evel Knievel's epic failure to cross the Snake River occurred.

Isyaignert February 13, 2012 at 4:32 pm

There was an Aryan skinhead compound in Haden Lake, but they don't have it any more – http://www.komonews.com/news/local/52359037.html

imissopus February 13, 2012 at 7:30 pm

Being the Mississippi of the Northwest?

ifthethunderdontgetya February 13, 2012 at 11:35 am

Rudy 9-11: Too hot for Idaho.
~

Crank_Tango February 13, 2012 at 11:35 am

potato fuckers

nounverb911 February 13, 2012 at 11:37 am

Isn't it the other way around?

actor212 February 13, 2012 at 11:42 am

As a matter of fact…yes!

Crank_Tango February 13, 2012 at 2:54 pm: if this is gonna be that kinda party, I'm a stick my dick in the mashed potatoes!

JustPixelz February 13, 2012 at 11:57 am

You make that sound like a bad thing. My darling Russet and I have a committed LTR.

nounverb911 February 13, 2012 at 11:36 am

Isn't Rudy 9iulliani due for a new husband any day now?

Dashboard Buddha February 13, 2012 at 11:38 am: You know…he has nice legs for a fascist.

ManchuCandidate February 13, 2012 at 11:36 am

I-da-No-Homo.

ChernobylSoup February 13, 2012 at 11:37 am

Ah, the old "If you don't discuss it, it doesn't exist" approach. I hear it works the same for alcoholism, syphilis, Whitney Houston tributes…

DaRooster February 13, 2012 at 11:37 am

Idaho?? Who woulda thunk it?

Oblios_Cap February 13, 2012 at 11:38 am

Everytime I click the mouse it sends be back up to the top of the page. It's really quite a-fucking-nnoying.

Monsieur_Grumpe February 13, 2012 at 11:44 am

I have the same thing happening with my home computer. VERY annoying.

Oblios_Cap February 13, 2012 at 12:18 pm: I'm going to blame the Brei-Farters.

bagofmice February 13, 2012 at 12:23 pm

As someone who has worked in the ad industry, this fills me with the fury of a thousand suns. You know the manager in charge of this was seeing a bonus in front of his brand.

DaRooster February 13, 2012 at 11:39 am

Hopefully kids in Idaho schools can still bully the gays… in the name of religion…

GOPCrusher February 13, 2012 at 1:58 pm: It's time for this PC shit to come to an end. THIS IS AMERICA!

Schmannnity February 13, 2012 at 11:39 am

Idaho gays? Isn't that like Mississippi intellectuals?

V572 Flambé February 13, 2012 at 11:52 am

C'mon…Shelby Foot's still alive, isn't he? Granted it's been downhill since Faulkner died.

Schmannnity February 13, 2012 at 12:23 pm

Died 7 years ago.

V572 Flambé February 13, 2012 at 12:38 pm: Well, that's all I had. So, yes: Idaho gays are as scarce as Mississippi intellectuals, and probably equally frightened of the Zeitgeist in which they live.

littlebigdaddy February 13, 2012 at 11:40 am

So there's no chance of the Larry Craig widestance bill passing?

actor212 February 13, 2012 at 11:40 am

We will NOT talk about sexual orientation for five quid.

OK, for a pair of hose?

DaSandman February 13, 2012 at 12:29 pm: Or a Mars bar!

jus_wonderin February 13, 2012 at 11:41 am

Thank the gods that photo didn't come in around my lunch time (central time here).

BaldarTFlagass February 13, 2012 at 11:41 am

Those gays are just going to have to continue living in their own private Idaho.

freakishlywrong February 13, 2012 at 11:42 am

I wish Republicans could quit us.

weej_bain February 13, 2012 at 11:42 am

Spudsylvania beaks to a narrow lead in narrowism. Arizona, Tejas, Oklahoma can you dig deep for some hidden santorum and surge back to the front?

jus_wonderin February 13, 2012 at 11:42 am

"And, IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII, will always love you, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew."

LabRodent February 13, 2012 at 11:42 am

I would not hit that chick in the middle.

paris biltong February 13, 2012 at 11:43 am

The trouble probably started when they asked Edgar Malepay, D-Pocatello, an Italian apologist for male prostitution, to introduce the bill.
Also, I always thought people in Idaho lacked sexual orientation.

Indiepalin February 13, 2012 at 11:44 am

Yeah. I thought it was me.

OC_Surf_Serf February 13, 2012 at 11:46 am

Fuck, if the Culture Wars of the 1970's are back then I want cheap gas, free love, abundant cocaine, and condom-free porn as well.

BaldarTFlagass February 13, 2012 at 11:59 am

"condom-free porn as well."

Also, no shaved pussies? Woohoo!

horsedreamer_1 February 13, 2012 at 8:07 pm: Google ths: Bobbi Starr. So. Much. Bush.

chascates February 13, 2012 at 11:48 am

More than any other country in history America is obsessed with sex. With preventing adults from doing it, from preventing children from learning about it, and most especially keeping reproductive decisions in the hands of older, mainly white men (uterus-free) who can best be described as 'creepy'.

Birth control is the new communism, marriage is the new heaven on earth, and childbearing (but not child-rearing) is the only suitable role for females.

V572 Flambé February 13, 2012 at 11:53 am: Those women and their vicious pussies are ruining everything! Only religion can keep them in their place.
Dashboard Buddha February 13, 2012 at 12:12 pm: In America, sex is an obsession, in other parts of the world it's a fact. – Marlene Dietrich

ThundercatHo February 13, 2012 at 11:48 am

Be fair now. The GOPers didn't have time to discuss it since they were going to be late for their neo-nazi shooting practise/costume party.

Ducksworthy February 13, 2012 at 11:50 am

I once "dated" a girl named Ida the Ho.

meatlofer February 13, 2012 at 11:52 am

Didn't Sarah get her degree in Idaho? Just saying………..

Biff February 13, 2012 at 12:43 pm: Also born there. In Sandpoint. Her daddy moved her to AK a few months later, presumably, because Sandpoint ID was insufficiently racist…

ttommyunger February 13, 2012 at 11:52 am

Idaho, the Country's outdoor crapper, where racists, homophobes and other assorted malcontents seek refuge from teh gheys, blahs and other human types different from them. The price they pay is that winters there are so cold and the snow is so deep one often has to climb a tree to take a shit, so; they've got that going for them, which is nice.

Schmannnity February 13, 2012 at 1:11 pm: "climb a tree to take a shit." You should trademark that, it makes more sense than piss up a rope.

Monsieur_Grumpe February 13, 2012 at 11:52 am

Hey Idaho. Larry Craig gave us so much despite being a closet gay.

WhatTheHeck February 13, 2012 at 11:53 am

and how exactly will the state of Idaho determine who is gay? Do they issue tattoos when they feel you dress too well?

Mumbletypeg February 13, 2012 at 11:54 am

C'mon guys, this is IDAHO — the original site of "I don't think that word means what you think it means"..!..

Chichikovovich February 13, 2012 at 12:21 pm: That's a myth, spread by the Idaho chamber of commerce. "Idaho" actually is a Blackfoot word, meaning "Where the homophobic douchebags live"

edgydrifter February 13, 2012 at 11:54 am

On the plus side, it's perfectly legal everywhere outside of Idaho to discriminate against Idahoans. Game on!

Ducksworthy February 13, 2012 at 11:55 am

Alternatively, what the fuck is wrong with these people? I'm thinking the new testament should be reduced to a set of diagrammed instructions so the illiterate can understand them, maybe as a quiz, e.g. "What is the greatest commandment?" Hint: The answer is NOT D. "Hate people who may be different from you in some way."

Thurman Munster IV February 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm

And the Human Rights Bowl takes place in Idaho? Time to send it to Saudi Arabia

GOPCrusher February 13, 2012 at 2:02 pm: Used to be the Humanitarian Bowl, but no one in Idaho could spell it correctly, making it impossible to screen print on a T-shirt.

Guppy February 13, 2012 at 12:01 pm

"backers felt forced to leave hundreds of Post-It type notes on the doors of the Capitol, urging the senators to just “add the words” already"

So they felt compelled to imitate Teabaggers and their old "read the bill" protests? Things must be really bad.

Goonemeritus February 13, 2012 at 12:01 pm

Someone needs to point out to his Holiness that when the Lord said be fruitful and multiply there were two people on earth. I say now that we have hit 7 billion we declare mission accomplished and move on.

Mumbletypeg February 13, 2012 at 12:03 pm

There's bound to be humor in the fact that Idaho's lawmakers passed legislation some years ago commending a pair of film directors for elevating their non-conspicuous state in filmgoers' "esteem" with their blockbuster hit showcasing a pair of cousins — with adolescent mannerisms awkward-bordering-on-effeminate — as well as an uncle of theirs whose character IMO could easily come across as closeted. But no irony to be found in this, surely, none at all.

JustPixelz February 13, 2012 at 12:08 pm

The Repubicans reject man-made climate change as unproven because they want 100% certainty before agreeing nature is telling us burning trillions of tons of fossil fuel is bad. But when it comes to culture war issues, they just go with some Bible citation and "it's God's will". So, I ask: Where's the 100% certain scientific proof of God's will? 'Cause if ya got it, you definitely win the argument.

MinAgain February 13, 2012 at 12:09 pm

I do love me a good Wittenburg Door tribute.

Chichikovovich February 13, 2012 at 12:24 pm: I myself would have been tempted to nail 95 feces to their doors.
Biff February 13, 2012 at 12:50 pm: I sure wish that website could be revived.

SayItWithWookies February 13, 2012 at 12:09 pm

Idaho — if you don't like it here, go back to the twenty-first century.

orygoon February 13, 2012 at 12:13 pm

Idaho is full of Mormons and those folks are no less obsessed with sex than anyone else. I have a friend who is an adolescent psychologist who worked in SLC for some years. She said they were given all of these rules about not just being chaste but not masturbating (I looked it up, and the suggestions/rules they detail are hilarious), and they worry and repress over it, and "the next thing you know they're having sex with their sister". "So you fix broken Mormons?" I asked. She thought about if a little and said "yes, that's pretty much it."

proudgrampa February 13, 2012 at 1:03 pm: Utah has the highest consumption of anti-depressants in the US.

All that cognitive dissonance, I guess.

Not_So_Much February 13, 2012 at 12:32 pm

Neat. Moved to this dystopian, frozen hellscape a couple years back. Yes, Teh Stoopid is strong here. (sigh)

valgal2342 February 13, 2012 at 12:37 pm

I drove through Idaho once, even stopped for gas. The scenery was pretty but something in the air was giving me the creeps and we couldn't cross the state line soon enough. And I'm straight!

bringmeanaxe February 13, 2012 at 12:46 pm: I know, creepy right? We once drove past a golf course in Idaho that was ringed with giant signs spouting white supremacy crap. A little racism with that 5 iron?

bringmeanaxe February 13, 2012 at 12:44 pm