BOISE-- Dozens of "Add the Words" protesters were sentenced Monday in an Ada County courtroom to mostly community service and court fines related to nine different demonstrations at the Idaho Statehouse earlier this year.
The first person sentenced was former Idaho state Senator Nicole LeFavour who was arrested several times for her part in the campaign.
For years those with the "Add the Words" have asked legislators for hearing to add the words "sexual orientation and gender identity" to the Idaho Human Rights Act. However, each year lawmakers denied their requests.
"All of us came into this year having tried everything," LeFavour told the judge.
LeFavour told the court she started talking to lawmakers in 1996 about gay rights in Idaho. When she was elected into the Idaho Senate in 2004 she began the groundwork to get the issue on the minds of her colleagues.
"I did get to know my colleagues. I talked to them about their dogs and kids and what they cared about. I tried to get to see things from their point of view so maybe they could see them from mine," she said.
LeFavour said after two years into her term, her fellow lawmakers stopped listening.
"I tried everything - diplomacy, patience, educating them, bringing people in, sticky notes - we tried everything. What we did this year was all we could think of to do," she said.
During the hearing prosecutors saw it differently and brought in two witnesses to show that. One was 72-year-old Fred Riggers who attends the Legislature each year to see firsthand how government works.
"I can talk to any of the legislators, any of the representatives, to the governor, to the secretary of state, at any time that I want," he said.
Riggers argued if he had access why couldn't the "Add the Words" protesters also have access that in that same way.
"I myself feel a great amount of empathy for these people, but I believe they went about their protest in the wrong manner," said Riggers.
Idaho State Police Major Steven Richardson was also called by the state as a witness, and said during the nine times the "Add the Words" protesters appeared in the Statehouse resources were diverted and there was also a limitation of services.
"It could have been a much more difficult situation as far as safety of visitors, the public and state workers I should say, and law enforcement associated if it had become more of a violent situation," said Richardson.
The attorneys working on behalf of LeFavour also called witnesses. Julia Zicha runs a non-profit foundation in honor of her late son Ryan.
"Our son Ryan had taken a firearm from our home," Zicha sobbed. "When he got to the end of the trail he sat down and sent us a (text) message and he took his life."
She explained that her son was bullied and threatened while going to school in Pocatello for being gay.
"By adding those words the state of Idaho gives value to the people that it encompasses, and those four words would be enough for a lot of the kids that I work with and I talk to as far as being able to give them hope that someday they can live a normal life, and that they won't always be considered second-class citizens," said Zicha.
The judge sentenced LeFavour to 70 hours of community service and $70 in court fines. Dozens of others faced their charges but also took the opportunity to tell the court their own personal story.
Keith Blazer, 28, from Parma was also charged with misdemeanor trespassing for a protest of Feb. 3. He said he was once attacked and beaten for being gay.
"With a lot of the cases with the transgender and gay community, if they decided to stay silent then that shouldn't be the case and I want them to know that it's okay too, to stand up for themselves," said Blazer.
Judy Cross pleaded guilty to taking part in two protests, one February 20 and another on February 27. She received 50 hours of community service along with $50 in fines. She testified her first arrest was back in 1968, two days after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.
"And we were arrested because our crime was holding hands with a black person," she said.
From that moment on she said she has been a proponent of equal rights.
"We were peaceful. We were silent and we were non-violent and I learned then that that makes a difference and I continue to believe that to this day," said Cross.
Richardson said the protests ended up costing Idaho taxpayers $24,000 for added troopers to respond. He said there was a total of 109 protesters arrested in February and March of 2014, with 192 initial violations of misdemeanor trespassing handed out.
On Monday, roughly 20 protesters appeared in court.
