BOISE, Idaho —
This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Jordan Hall’s house first appears briefly between the trees on the drive up the Quail Ridge subdivision in Boise.
At night, Hall’s rainbow gay pride lights appear faint from the road because of the shining white porch lights. He put up his display toward the end of Pride Month in June – inspired by the White House’s pride display, which he saw when he used to live in D.C.
But on July 8, his homeowners association sent a letter giving him 48 hours to take the lights down.
“I’ve always felt safe in my home, until last Friday,” Hall said on Tuesday. “They have targeted me in my home and that is the hard part … You’ve now made it personal.”
The association contends the display is a “noxious or undesirable act,” and is unsafe for drivers coming up the hill, according to the letter. It also said the lights violate the covenants, conditions and restrictions — known as CC&Rs —because there are only certain colors a house can be in the subdivision.
The HOA alleged that Hall altered “the exterior color of your home with colorful lights without first obtaining ACC approval,” citing a section in the rules that requires approval for additional buildings, fences, walls, structures improvements or obstructions.
In a Wednesday email, Quail Ridge Neighborhood Association President Jason Schauer said the request was not based on any discriminatory or improper motive.
Schauer, who is also involved with the CC&R Committee, said the CC&Rs “govern the outward appearance” of houses within the subdivision.
“QRNA believes that Mr. Hall's light display is materially out of character with the other homes in Quail Ridge due to his full home (front and back) colorful light display and politely asked that it be removed,” Schauer said.
Hall said they are treating his lights as if he painted his home a different color, but the lights are temporary and only visible at night. There’s no rule he’s breaking, he said.
“To my knowledge no homeowner has ever lit up their home in the manner in which you've done, and that has never been permitted,” Schauer wrote to Hall on July 8. “The lights are therefore well out of character in regard to the other homes in Quail Ridge.”
However, the HOA has not responded similarly to other houses with lights, Hall said. Hall put up Christmas lights, and one house in the subdivision routinely makes headlines for the thousands of LED lights set up for Christmas. And another house, with red lights, has never heard from the HOA about the display violating any rules.
“His lights are gorgeous,” said Dusty Trail, a neighbor.
His wife, Karen, agreed.
“It (Hall’s rainbow light display) is not causing any trouble,” she said.
Hall's history
Hall, who is from Los Angeles, moved to Boise in May 2020. He spent six years of active duty service during the era of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a controversial policy that allowed gay people to serve in the military only if they were closeted.
Though he said he probably knew he was gay earlier, it still “took a lot of time.” For years, he lived in the closet.
“It’s just gotten better,” Hall said, sitting on a black armchair in his house, wearing a rainbow watch. “I hate using that cliche, but it just does get better.”
Now, he lives a life free from suppression. To be out, he said, is not to think about being out. He doesn’t have to tell people he’s gay. He went about his daily life and could hold hands with a partner.
“To be out I think, is just to be like everybody else,” Hall said.
On his first visit to Boise, he saw a moderate, progressive city. He was “flabbergasted” by the amount of pride flags on a previous June's visit to the area.
He’s had plenty of support in Boise, some of which makes him tear up. Hall said he’s been able to hand out pride flags to places he frequents, and often the establishments will fly it.
Hall has felt as accepted here as he did in Los Angeles or Washington, D.C.
In his backyard, he’s hosted pride parties and set up pride displays, he said, scrolling through his iPhone for photos of balloons.
In 2021, the HOA president attended his pride party as a neighbor.
However, Hall said they refuse to even acknowledge it’s a pride display, repeatedly referring to it as colored or multi-colored lights. In the Wednesday email to the Idaho Press, Schauer said the lights were "Pride colors."
He said Schauer thinks he can say he went to the pride party as an excuse.
“Actions speak louder than words,” Hall said.
Idaho is a conservative state. But Hall said true conservatives believe in freedom of speech. It’s a slippery slope from not being able to have his pride lights up to other rights being on the chopping block, he said.
And his lawyer, former Lt. Gov. David Leroy, believes this is infringing on his right to protected speech.
“Any suggestion that one or more neighbors or the Association as an entity can opine that a gay-pride display on Jordan’s own home is such a sufficient ‘annoyance or nuisance’ or a ‘noxious or undesirable act’ to them that their opinion will allow the suppression of Jordan’s protected and supreme political views and rights of association seems extremely ill-founded in today’s world,” Leroy wrote, in a letter to the HOA on July 8.
Pride and HOAs in Idaho
Police opened the back of a U-Haul near an Idaho Pride event last month in Coeur d’Alene. Inside, they found dozens of members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front. The group perceives LGBTQ people as enemies, among others, according to the Associated Press.
The arrests were one of a few anti-LGBTQ incidents in the past month to draw attention.
In Boise, a pastor’s anti-LGBTQ comments went viral, the Idaho Press previously reported.
In his sermon, he said “queers” should be “put to death” and “sodomites are reptilians.”
In response, the community has come together to protest the pastor’s sermons. Over 25 faith leaders signed a letter denouncing the pastor’s speech. And a Boise High School graduate put together a workshop to “show hate is never the way in religion.”
Early in June, the Boise Police Department received reports of missing and damaged pride flags from Harrison Boulevard. A similar incident took place in 2021. All but four of the Harrison Boulevard pride flags were stolen or destroyed, but that year, police were immediately able to find the suspect.
This is far from the first time HOAs have cracked down on displays. In Wisconsin, an HOA told a couple they were not allowed to fly their pride flag, only the American flag. The couple took down their pride flag and instead set up rainbow lights.
And in North Idaho, an HOA told a homeowner his Christmas display violated the rules surrounding traffic, excessive noise and brightness, leading to a legal battle.
The Idaho Legislature in March created a new HOA act that went into effect July 1. The law includes new requirements for HOA meetings and financial disclosure, according to BoiseDev.
Plus, the law said HOAs can’t prohibit political signs, unless they threaten public health or safety, violate “applicable law or ordinance,” or are accompanied by sound or music. HOAs also cannot prohibit the flying of the U.S. flag, Idaho’s flag, prisoner of war or missing in action flag or an armed forces flag.
There is no mention in the act of lights.
The result
On July 11, the HOA wrote back to Hall. It notified him of a telephonic hearing on Aug. 12, to determine if he violated the rules. Hall and Schauer have been haggling over a good time and date to have the hearing.
In the meantime, Hall intends to keep up those lights. In the end, he may file a lawsuit.
“They don’t intimidate me in that same regard. I feel bad for the person who can’t defend themselves … this is the time to stand up,” Hall said. “This is not being conservative, this is being a homophobic bully.”.
The people involved may not be homophobic, but their actions are, Hall said.
Hall is still scared though. He’s a rule follower and he wishes all this would go away. He doesn’t want to be a martyr, though he hopes the attention will have an effect. He stopped talking to take a call from state Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, who heard from a neighbor about the issue.
"In our community all are welcome," Wintrow told the Idaho Press on Wednesday. "We want you to be who you are."
The lights were meant to be temporary, and he had intended to take them down. But when he got the letter, things changed. But still, he said the situation would have been different if someone had just knocked on his door and talked to him.
“The hardest part about the situation is, at what point do you take the courage to go forward?” Hall said, tearing up. “I don’t know where that is. I don’t have that limit yet. I just think that a little attention, I hope it gets them to back down from this. I don’t want to be fighting this in 2022. It’s just crazy.”
This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press. Read more at IdahoPress.com
Carolyn Komatsoulis covers Boise, Meridian and Ada County. Contact her at 208-465-8107 and follow her on Twitter @CKomatsoulis.
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