Nicole LeFavour, a lesbian in the Idaho State Senate, is supporting legislation that would amend the Idaho Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Scheduled for hearing on Friday, the amendment will first be considered by the nine-member Senate State Affairs Committee. Currently, the bill only protects state employees from discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin, and disability.

In the days leading up to the hearing, LeFavour has been trying to mobilize constituents into contacting legislators. More information on the bill, the campaign, and LeFavour can be found at Equality Idaho.

Equality Idaho urged voters to support the bill by talking to their representatives about the following issues:

– This bill simply adjusts an already existing Idaho law to protect gay and transgender people, just as it currently protects people based on race, sex, religion, national origin and disability.

– Hard working, high-performing employees shouldn’t be fired just because they’re gay or transgender.

– The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law recently reported that between 15% to 43% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people (or between 2.25 million and 6.5 million Americans) surveyed since the mid-1990’s reported experiencing unfair employment practices based on their orientation. For transgender people, 20% to 57% of respondents reported having experienced unfair employment practices based on their gender identity.