Sexual Orientation Not Added To Law House Panel Votes Against Changing List Of Hate Crimes

Legislators have derailed an attempt to add sexual orientation to the state’s hate crime law, rejecting what some said was Idaho’s chance to improve a national reputation for intolerance.

“We need to send a message just as loudly as the Aryan Nations sends theirs that Idaho will not tolerate violence,” said Rep. Jim Stoicheff. Stoicheff, a member of the House State Affairs Committee who voted for the controversial bill. But in a 14-7 vote Wednesday, the committee disagreed, bowing to arguments that Idaho ought not give special protection to any segment of society.

The narrow committee hearing room overflowed with television cameras and more than 50 onlookers.

Leslie Goddard, director of the Idaho Human Rights Commission, spearheaded the bill. “A hate crime touches every potential subject of the victim’s group, not just the victim,” Goddard told the committee.

But legislators questioned the need for additional penalties when assault and battery are covered by law.

Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden, said, “It’s flawed to think that something like that should have an increased penalty.”

Idaho made it clear that it wanted extra penalties for harassment based on hate when the Malicious Harassment Law was approved in 1983. The state was among the first in the nation with such a law. Twenty-eight states now include sexual orientation in their hate crime laws.

“Why should some victims be more important than others?” asked Kelly Walton of the Idaho Christian Coalition.

Stoicheff and Rep. June Judd, D-St. Maries, were two of four North Idaho committee members, voted in favor of the bill. Reps. Alltus and John Campbell, R-Sandpoint, opposed the bill. Judd said she had planned to vote against it, but was “caught up in the emotion” of the testimony.

“A crime like the one that occurred in Wyoming makes you sick in your soul,” Stoicheff said, referring to the beating death of a gay college student last year. “There needs to be some action taken to prevent that from happening here.”

One incident already has propelled Idaho into the national spotlight.

Mark Bangeter, a Boise artist, was severely beaten last April on the street in front of his downtown residence, because his attacker mistakenly thought he was gay. Bangeter is now blind in his left eye and lives in fear of his assailant, who retreated from the scene screaming at Bangeter, “I’ll get you. I know where you live.”

If caught, Bangeter’s attacker can be charged with assault and battery, but the extended penalty available in bias-motivated crimes does not apply.

That penalty is a maximum of five years in prison and a monetary penalty of $5,000.

Said Misty Schymtzik, director of Your Family Friends and Neighbors, argued, “Bias crimes are message crimes. They are meant to intimidate a specific target.”

Although the bill was killed, Goddard said, “I think we made a positive start in beginning to talk openly about harassment of gays.”

Cut in the Spokane edition

This sidebar appeared with the story: SPLIT VOTES A House committee voted 14-7 against adding sexual orientation to the state’s hate crime law. North Idaho votes: Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint Yes June Judd, D-St. Maries Yes Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden No John Campbell, R-Sandpoint No