House Bill 96, which went into effect in April, bans non-official flags on government property.
Reacting to the new law, the Boise City Council voted 5-1 to cleverly name the “Pride flag” as the city’s official flag to skirt the new law.
Two other flags, the city’s flag and a flag promoting organ donations, were also adopted as “official.”
"Pride flags have no place on government flag poles,” says Titus Folks of the Idaho Family Policy Center.
Idaho neighbor Utah has a similar state law about official flags but, like Boise, Salt Lake City is refusing to comply. Instead, Utah's capital city will fly the "Pride" flag, the transgender flag, and a Juneteenth flag.
The position of Idaho Family, Folks tells AFN, is the City of Boise must be “held accountable” for refusing to follow the state law.
The Idaho Dispatch reports Raul Labrador, the state’s attorney general, is threatening Boise, too, but the state law doesn’t include any enforcement mechanism.
Idaho Family is hoping public pressure will convince the City of Boise, which is led mostly by Democrats, to drop its new policy. An “action alert” created by the organization urges the public to contact the Boise City Council and urge it to follow the state law.
"We've already generated over 10,000 emails,” Folks advises, “and we are not planning to slow down any time soon.”
In April, conservative protesters filmed themselves raising the historic "Appeal to Heaven" flag outside Boise City Hall to protest the "pride" flag which was covered with a garbage bag. The flag was removed the next morning, however.
