BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Police have arrested dozens of gay rights activists, saying their protest blocked entrances to the Idaho Senate chambers for more than two hours.
Idaho State Police say they took 43 people into custody Feb. 3 after the demonstrators stood shoulder to shoulder and prevented lawmakers from getting past.
Former state Sen. Nicole LeFavour, a Boise Democrat and the Idaho Legislature’s first openly gay lawmaker, had said the group would block the entrances until lawmakers agreed to take up a bill adding protections for gay and transgender people to the Idaho Human Rights Act.
Idaho Republicans have blocked passage of such a proposal for eight years, and they have declined to give such a plan a hearing this year.
