LGBTQ+ protestors cover state Capitol in thousands of paper hearts to send powerful message
Protestors in Idaho dropped tens of thousands of paper hearts across the state capitol floor in protest at legislators’ anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
Videos and pictures shared across social media showed at least 48,000 colourful paper hearts littered across the Idaho Capitol’s rotunda floor on Tuesday (2 April), each representing a person who identifies as LGBTQ+ in the state.
Idaho’s branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU Idaho), reportedly started the campaign in early March, petitioning activists to “send us your hearts” to protest the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in the state.
ACLU Idaho urged activists to create and send palm-sized hearts made out of fabric or paper, representing the 48,000 LGBTQ+ people live in Idaho reported by the 2020 Census.
“We wish to remind [Idaho state governor Brad Little] and the Idaho State Legislature how many people these laws could affect,” they said.
The group said that in just 12 days it had received over 48,000 hearts from across 20 different cities in Idaho, including Coeur d’Alene, Pocatello, and Blackfoot.
In a speech during the protest, recorded and shared by ACLU Idaho, an activist said that LGBTQ+ Idahoans are “sick and tired” of the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric from the state House.
“Many of these hearts have messages on them just like this one. A lot of them say ‘48,000 strong’, some of them say ‘I’m trans and I vote’. A lot of them say ‘stop the hate‘.”
The campaign was started just a day after an anti-trans Senate bill passed through to governor Little’s desk to be signed into law.
The bill, which passed its third and final House vote on 18 March and was signed by Idaho governor Brad Little on 22 March, would allow medical providers to deny healthcare or counselling to LGBTQ+ people on the basis of their “religious, moral, or ethical principles.”
ACLU Idaho said in a post on Facebook that the bill is discriminatory, adding that a person’s religious liberties “do not grant a right to discriminate“.
“In recent years, we have seen an increase in dangerous legislation and laws that attempt to permit religious-based discrimination,” it continued. “Numerous courts have found such laws infringe on anti-discrimination protections.”
As the paper hearts were being dropped from the above floors, the House meanwhile deliberated over two new anti-trans bills, both of which were passed.
One of the bills would allow government officials to lawfully misgender a trans person and refuse to address them by their preferred name without fear of discipline.
The other enshrines into law the belief that there are only two sexes, essentially refuting any legal recognition of gender identity or intersex people.
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