Tearful Boise City Council declares Trans Day of Visibility

HAADIYA TARIQ

htariq@idahopress.com

A heaviness set the tone of Tuesday’s Boise City Council meeting, on the heels of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being signed into Idaho law, as Boise declared March 31 as the Trans Day of Visibility.

Council members spoke through tears at the special meeting as they reflected on the importance of allyship following the passage of a flag ban earlier that day. After over a decade of the Pride flag flying outside Boise City Hall, Gov. Brad Little signed an amended law to restrict what flags cities and counties can display.

The bill, HB 561, comes after previous attempts to outlaw the Pride flag on city and county property in the 2025 legislative session. Skirting around the ban, Mayor Lauren McLean and the city council continued flying the flag due to a lack of enforcement mechanisms in the 2025 legislation.

The updated legislation will now enforce a $2,000 fine for each day an unauthorized flag is displayed. Acceptable flags include the U.S. flag, state flags, military flags, the POW/MIA flag, flags of Indian tribes, and country flags for special occasions.

On Tuesday, McLean spoke to a packed room. Over the past year, she has stood firmly in the city’s right to show support for the LGBTQ+ community.

“I hope that knowing that you are loved, seen and welcomed by this city enables you to participate in the fabric of this community,” McLean said.

She described the day as a sad one for the people who call Boise home, but welcomed the Trans Day of Visibility proclamation as a way to show support for a marginalized population.

Tuesday also saw the signing of HB 752, a bill that criminalizes the use of public facilities that do not align with a person’s “biological sex.” A repeat offender will be subject to a felony charge.

“They are seeking to divide us by targeting the most vulnerable among us,” McLean said about lawmakers. “There’s little we can do at the state and national level, but there is much that can be done here at home.”

McLean choked up as she discussed the future of Idaho’s next generation, describing mothers who have to watch their children leave the state. She seemingly referred to the strained state of Idaho’s obstetrics care and abortion rights.

Idaho has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, an abortion trigger ban quickly went into effect.

“I thought about my own kid, and their questions of whether or not their friends are welcome here,” McLean said. “Whether as a woman, my daughter will be able to have children here in a healthy and safe way.”

Council Member Colin Nash reflected on his previous experience as a representative for District 16 in the Idaho House. He resigned in 2024, citing his intent to focus more on city council.

“Often in the legislature, it felt like casting your pearls before swine,” Nash said.

Nash spoke about his wife’s cousin, Shay, who killed herself a few years ago after a lack of acceptance for identifying with the LGBTQ+ community. As a representative at the time Nash wanted to share her story in the legislature, but, as he expected from previous experience, “it just didn’t resonate, their hearts were hardened.”

“Shay was a lovely soul,” Nash said, speaking through tears. “... I’m not asking you to empathize, but if someone feels something so deeply that they would go to those ends, can we just give them a little bit more understanding? A little bit more sympathy?”

Sporting a rainbow sticker on her blazer, Council Pro Tem Kathy Corless spoke on the importance of visibility. While she identifies herself as a longtime LGBTQ+ ally, Corless said she has realized a need to be more transparent.

“This isn’t the Idaho I grew up in; people are under attack,” Corless said. “This legislation that is coming out feels mean. Spiteful.”

Council members encouraged locals to show their support by flying their own Pride flags.

“Our love and support for the flag didn’t start with the flag, and it doesn’t end here,” Corless said. Council Member Jimmy Hallyburton described visibility as a showing of people’s humanity, and their right to love and live life freely. He noted that the issue is personal to his family, like many others in the community.

“Today feels like a day of mourning, taking the flag down — it hurts,” Hallyburton said. “It hurts a lot of people and makes people feel less safe, less seen, less visible.”

At the same time, Hallyburton pointed to the impact Boise as a community can continue, describing the city as “a beacon of hope for this entire state.”

“Today can also be a day of strength,” he said. “Today is a day where we can lift each other up, where we can be strong for each other, where one flag can go down and 1,000 more can go up.”

HaadiyaTariq is the Boise reporter for the Idaho Press. You can follow her on socials @HaadiyaTariq or email her at htariq@ idahopress.com.