We need your help to stop Idaho Falls from adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” (SOGI) to the list of classes protected under the city nondiscrimination ordinance. The vote is scheduled for May 14th.
The harsh consequences of these SOGI nondiscrimination ordinances have been obvious for years now. People of faith who want to live their lives and run their businesses according to their sincerely held beliefs about marriage and gender find themselves in the crosshairs. A few examples include:
- Jack Phillips, a Colorado cake artist who refused to create a custom cake for a same-sex wedding, was ordered to violate his conscience and religious beliefs by making cakes for same-sex weddings and providing sensitivity training for his employees
- Barronelle Stutzman, a grandmotherly florist in Washington State, faces losing her retirement savings and her business after she declined to create custom floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding
- Elaine Huguenin, a New Mexico photographer, was found guilty of discrimination for turning down a request to photograph a same-sex wedding and was ordered to pay thousands of dollars of legal fees
- Blaine Adams, a Kentucky businessowner who declined a request to create a custom T-shirt for a local gay Pride event, was forced to make the shirts and attend “diversity training”
SOGI ordinances are also used as a license to provide biological men access into female bathrooms, locker rooms, thereby risking the privacy and safety of girls and women.
These policies are clearly an attack on religious liberty and privacy rights. Let’s make sure this doesn’t become the new policy in Idaho Falls.
