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Eye On Boise

Madelynn Taylor: ‘That was discrimination’

From this morning’s testimony on HB 2:

Madelynn Lee Taylor told the committee, “You all know my story, you’ve read it in the newspapers, trying to get my wife interred out at the Veterans Cemetery. That was discrimination.” She said, “I lost two jobs for being gay. If we had this law, I would not have to sue the state just to bury my wife.” At the conclusion of her testimony, committee Chairman Tom Loerscher told her, “Thank you, sir.” Amid laughter, Taylor, whose short hair was newly styled, said, “I went to the beauty shop and asked them to make me presentable – this is what they did.”

Amid more laughter, Loertscher told the next person to testify, Judy Cross, “Please tell me who you are, because I think I’ve lost track.”

Cross said, “Our honorably elected officials, it is your chance to make a difference. … I urge you to find the compassion in your hearts that you have for all of your constituents in this great state and send HB 2 with a do-pass to the floor.”



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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