Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, sponsored a bill that bans transgender people in Idaho from changing their birth certificates to match their gender identity.
A crowd gathers before a rally in support of transgender rights outside the Idaho Capitol on Tuesday evening.
Tommy Simmons/The Idaho Press
Chris Mosier, a Team USA athlete and transgender man, speaks at a March 3 rally on the steps of the Idaho Capitol.
Tommy Simmons/The Idaho Press
Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, sponsored a bill that bans transgender people in Idaho from changing their birth certificates to match their gender identity.
A majority of Idahoans favor two state laws that passed this year to ban transgender girls and women from female high school and college sports teams and to bar transgender people from changing their sex on their birth certificates, according to a recent poll commissioned by a feminist group known for its opposition to gender identity protections.
The poll of 600 likely voters, which was conducted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 by Spry Strategies on behalf of the Women's Liberation Front, found almost 67% support for House Bill 500, the sports bill, and almost 60% support for House Bill 509, the birth certificate one.
Majorities of more than 60% said transgender women shouldn't be incarcerated in women's prisons or let into female changing rooms or domestic violence shelters, and 86% said minors who identify as transgender should not be given sex reassignment surgery or puberty-blocking hormones. A bill to ban this was introduced in Idaho this year but never came to a vote.
Transgender issues dominated much of the 2020 legislative session, pitting Idaho’s socially conservative super-majority Republican Legislature against civil rights groups and members of the transgender community. House bills 500 and 509 are both being challenged in federal court, and their implementation is on hold.
According to the poll, which has a 4% margin of error, 63% of likely Idaho voters approve of President Donald Trump's performance and 60% plan to vote for him, with 35% planning to vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden and the rest undecided. In the U.S. Senate race, 53% said they plan to vote for Republican incumbent Jim Risch and 28% for Democrat Paulette Jordan, with 8% saying "another candidate" (Natalie Fleming is running as an independent, Ray Writz as the Constitution Party candidate) and the rest undecided. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they approve of Republican Gov. Brad Little's performance in office.
These presidential results line up with FiveThirtyEight's forecast, which is predicting 62% for Trump in Idaho and 35% for Biden at the moment. This would make Idaho the third-most Republican state in the country if it holds — not a surprising result, Idaho has consistently been one of the reddest states in the country in recent presidential elections. It also lines up with my personal prediction that both Trump and Biden are going to improve noticeably on their parties' respective performances in 2016, when Trump got 59% of the vote in Idaho and Democrat Hillary Clinton got 28%, with the rest going to third-party candidates. (Independent Evan McMullin and Libertarian Gary Johnson did well that year.)
The Women's Liberation Front, which describes itself as a "radical feminist organization," is part of a minority of feminists who are critical of the concept of gender identity. The group has made a name for itself in recent years by working with conservatives to support bills like the ones passed in Idaho this year that reject gender identity and define gender based on a person's birth sex. The group urged Idaho Gov. Brad Little in March to sign House Bill 500, and supporters of both bills repeatedly cited the Women's Liberation Front's statements in their arguments. The Idaho poll was released at the same time as a poll of California voters' views on transgender issues.
”The policies being pushed by gender extremists cut against the majority opinions of likely voters in both California, and Idaho," Natasha Chart, chairwoman of the group's board, said in a statement. "They should stop trying to win this debate by falsely describing themselves as representing the popular will."
Reporter Nathan Brown can be reached at 208-542-6757. Follow him on Twitter: @NateBrownNews.
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