BOISE, Idaho — While Boise experienced milder temperatures on Tuesday, a storm raged inside the Idaho State Capitol as allies of the LGBTQ community dropped thousands of paper hearts to protest recent state legislation.
Allies dropped 48,000 handmade paper hearts from the fourth floor inside the state capitol building. The hearts represented the known queer Idahoans opposing recent legislation they deem is "against their humanity and their rights," the ACLU of Idaho stated in a news release.
"I think the number one message is that there are 48,000 Queer Idahoans that bills that get introduced and passed into law in this house affect all of us, all of our families," Jenna Damron said. "We live here, we work here, and we raise our families here."
Legislation moving forward in the Idaho Statehouse, like HB 538, which would prevent any government entity from mandating that public employees use preferred pronouns if it differs from the individuals birth sex.
The news release stated that on March 18, the ACLU of Idaho partnered with community organizations to place a call for hearts in the community, and in 10 days, it collected 48,000 hearts from 18 different cities.
While the paper hearts blanketed the floor of the rotunda, event organizations said they were prepared to make sure all of the hearts were cleaned up.
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