Idaho House begins session with legislation on same-sex marriage, Boise State volleyball
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Mia Maldonado, Idaho Capital Sun
(Idaho Capital Sun) — The first pieces of legislation introduced in the Idaho Capitol this session address same-sex marriage and Boise State University’s decision to forfeit its women’s volleyball matches against San José State University.
On Tuesday morning, legislators in the Idaho House State Affairs Committee voted to move two items – a memorial and resolution – forward.
Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, was the first to introduce her memorial to the committee. The memorial pushes to restore the authority of defining marriage to the states and urges the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage.
A memorial is not a bill, but rather it is a “petition or representation made by the House of Representatives and concurred in by the Senate, or vice versa, addressed to whoever can effectuate the request of the memorial”, according to legislative rules. The committee voted to move the resolution forward with a hearing that will take place at a later date.
The second piece of legislation came from Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, who introduced a concurrent resolution commending the Boise State University women’s volleyball team for forfeiting its matches against San José State University in protest of the team having a transgender athlete, Idaho Education News reported.
Ehardt, a longtime college basketball coach, said Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in sports, changed her life. She said a transgender athlete should have never been allowed to play in the Mountain West Conference.
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“Shame on the Mountain West for allowing this to happen and not changing their policies,” she said. “Even bigger shame – we call out the NCAA (President) Charlie Baker for allowing this to happen. It should never have happened. Their regressive policies are putting men in women’s sports, men in single sex spaces, and it’s not right.”
The concurrent resolution doesn’t have the force of law. Instead, it expresses the opinion of the Legislature on a topic. The committee voted to move the resolution forward to a full public hearing to be held at a later date.