Jacob Ogles
Wed, April 8, 2026
THE ADVOCATE
Boise city hall sign 'creating a city for everyone'
Idaho barred government buildings from flying Pride flags. Now, officials in the state’s capital city are turning to lights, pole wraps, and public signage instead.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
Boise City Hall installed a sign this week featuring an 11-stripe rainbow with the message: “Creating a city for everyone.” Local CBS affiliate KBOI reports that new colored accent lighting also illuminated the building in rainbow hues. Flagpoles, including ones that previously flew the Pride flag, are now wrapped in rainbow colors.
City leaders point out that the art display is not a flag.
"The art additions to city hall demonstrate our unwavering commitment to the people that call Boise home and to the values that we uphold every day of being a safe and welcoming city for everyone,” the city said in a statement to the station.
Related: Idaho Republicans advance bill to impose hefty fines on cities flying Pride flags
Related: Here's how Boise and Salt Lake City will fly Pride flags despite state bans
After the GOP-controlled Idaho legislature passed a law last year prohibiting cities from flying any flags not on a list sanctioned by state law, Boise responded by adopting the rainbow icon as its official city flag to sidestep the restriction. But the Legislature, which meets blocks from City Hall, tightened the law this year, imposing fines of $2,000 per day, per flag, for any banners not specifically permitted.
Idaho state Rep. Ted Hill, who sponsored the new law, included language explicitly barring any city flags adopted after 2023. He said Boise’s defiance prompted the punitive penalties.
“That’s what this bill is about, specifically insubordinate government officials,” he said in a committee hearing, the Idaho Capital Sun reported. “It sets a tone of anarchy.”
Boise’s latest display, however, is not a flag. The lighting incorporates the six colors of the traditional Pride flag, the black and brown stripes associated with the Philadelphia Pride flag, and the pink, blue, and white of the transgender flag. The combined palette evokes the Progress Pride flag without replicating any single official design.
After Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, signed the legislation imposing fines, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, a Democrat, posted a video saying that removing flags from flagpoles didn’t change the city’s attitudes toward inclusiveness.
“To our LGBTQ family, friends and neighbors, you are an essential part of Boise,” she said. “You are welcome here. You are valued here, and no law can or will change that. In fact, it has only strengthened our resolve, because our values and our commitment run deep. We are and will remain a safe and welcoming city for everyone.”
This article originally appeared on Advocate
Boise city hall sign 'creating a city for everyone'
Idaho barred government buildings from flying Pride flags. Now, officials in the state’s capital city are turning to lights, pole wraps, and public signage instead.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
Boise City Hall installed a sign this week featuring an 11-stripe rainbow with the message: “Creating a city for everyone.” Local CBS affiliate KBOI reports that new colored accent lighting also illuminated the building in rainbow hues. Flagpoles, including ones that previously flew the Pride flag, are now wrapped in rainbow colors.
City leaders point out that the art display is not a flag.
"The art additions to city hall demonstrate our unwavering commitment to the people that call Boise home and to the values that we uphold every day of being a safe and welcoming city for everyone,” the city said in a statement to the station.
Related: Idaho Republicans advance bill to impose hefty fines on cities flying Pride flags
Related: Here's how Boise and Salt Lake City will fly Pride flags despite state bans
After the GOP-controlled Idaho legislature passed a law last year prohibiting cities from flying any flags not on a list sanctioned by state law, Boise responded by adopting the rainbow icon as its official city flag to sidestep the restriction. But the Legislature, which meets blocks from City Hall, tightened the law this year, imposing fines of $2,000 per day, per flag, for any banners not specifically permitted.
Idaho state Rep. Ted Hill, who sponsored the new law, included language explicitly barring any city flags adopted after 2023. He said Boise’s defiance prompted the punitive penalties.
“That’s what this bill is about, specifically insubordinate government officials,” he said in a committee hearing, the Idaho Capital Sun reported. “It sets a tone of anarchy.”
Boise’s latest display, however, is not a flag. The lighting incorporates the six colors of the traditional Pride flag, the black and brown stripes associated with the Philadelphia Pride flag, and the pink, blue, and white of the transgender flag. The combined palette evokes the Progress Pride flag without replicating any single official design.
After Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, signed the legislation imposing fines, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, a Democrat, posted a video saying that removing flags from flagpoles didn’t change the city’s attitudes toward inclusiveness.
“To our LGBTQ family, friends and neighbors, you are an essential part of Boise,” she said. “You are welcome here. You are valued here, and no law can or will change that. In fact, it has only strengthened our resolve, because our values and our commitment run deep. We are and will remain a safe and welcoming city for everyone.”
This article originally appeared on Advocate
RELATED
Idaho governor signs law making transgender bathroom use a felony
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Idaho governor signs law making transgender bathroom use a felony
The Idaho legislature isn’t governing. It’s hunting transgender people
Idaho Republicans are trying to strip localities of nondiscrimination ordinances that protect LGBTQ+ people
Family with transgender daughter plans to close business, leave Idaho | Opinion
Scott McIntosh
Wed, April 8, 2026
From left, Eve, Angie, Michael and Isabelle Devitt.
(Barb Bergeson/Photo courtesy of the Devitt family)
Eve Devitt recently came home to Boise from New York City to show her friend the beauty of Idaho.
They went to Bruneau Sand Dunes, Craters of the Moon, stopped at the Hemingway Memorial, went to Galena Lodge, and visited Stanley and McCall.
“She wanted to show her her state,” Eve’s father Michael Devitt told me in an interview. “And she’s like, ‘I can’t do that now. We could not make that trip again,’ which it’s kind of heartbreaking, because she loves Idaho so much.
“She loves Idaho, but Idaho doesn’t love her back.”
Eve is a transgender woman and as of July 1, it will be illegal for Eve to use a woman’s bathroom.
The Idaho Legislature passed and Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 752, which makes it a crime for any person to knowingly and willfully enter a restroom, changing room, locker room or shower room in a government-owned building or place of public accommodation designated for the opposite biological sex.
The first offense is a misdemeanor with up to 1 year in jail, and a second offense within five years is a felony with up to five years in prison.
Little signed the bill on International Transgender Day of Visibility, which Michael said was just another slap in the face.
“For our family, the thing that was just really a kick in the teeth, was that when Gov. Little signed this bill, he did it during the Trans Day of Visibility ceremony,” he said. “In case you ever wondered about the character of Brad Little — now we know… that was just cruel… reprehensible… that was intentional.”
House Bill 752 was also “the last straw” for the Devitt family, which includes Michael, his wife, Dr. Angie Devitt, who is president of the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians, and their two daughters, Eve and Isabelle.
Michael, who has run Focus Physical Therapy for the last 28 years in Boise, will close the business by September for the purpose of preparing to move out of state.
“Obviously, this law is a disaster for families like ours,” Michael wrote to his patients. “We can no longer take a road trip across our beloved state, or even enjoy a family night out at a restaurant, or a movie, without running the risk of Eve being charged and sent to prison merely for using the facilities.”
I first interviewed Michael and Eve back in 2023, when the Legislature passed and Little signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. That was when Eve was 17, but Eve turned 18 in September, before the law went into effect the following January.
But over the past few years, the Idaho Legislature has continuously proposed and passed bills to place restrictions on transgender people, from banning them from sports to prohibiting trans people from changing the sex on their birth certificates and now telling them which bathrooms they’re legally allowed to use.
“We love Idaho, but our lawmakers and governor have spent the past five legislative sessions attacking Idaho’s transgender community, and there is a point at which hard decisions must be made,” Michael wrote to his patients.
All for a community of people that represents less than 1% of the population, and for a supposed problem that has zero evidence of existing in Idaho. Transgender women aren’t going into the women’s bathroom to attack and sexually assault women. Transgender men aren’t going into the men’s room to attack other men.
A 2025 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law looked at criminal reports of safety and privacy violations in localities with nondiscrimination laws that protected transgender access and localities that did not and found incidents of safety and privacy violations were rare, there was no significant difference in violations between the two types of localities and there was no evidence of an increase in violations from nondiscrimination laws.
The UCLA study also showed that transgender people get harassed or are denied use of a restroom – regardless of the gender-specific restroom they’re seeking to use. And in one study, 58% of respondents reported avoiding going out altogether due to a lack of access to a safe restroom.
With this new Idaho law, Eve will be forced to go to the men’s room, and people like Nikson Mathews, a transgender man, will be forced to use the women’s room. Monitoring and enforcement is going to get ugly and confusing.
The other thing this story illustrates is how everyone is affected by the state Legislature’s actions — whether you have a transgender family member or not. Michael Devitt’s patients will now have to find somewhere else to get physical therapy. And in a state with among the lowest number of doctors per capita, Idaho stands to lose another doctor in Angie Devitt, further exacerbating the problem and making it even harder for patients to find a doctor.
But for the Devitts, there’s little choice.
“Angie and I have just kind of come to the conclusion that anybody with transgender family members in Idaho, we’re basically in an abusive relationship with the state government,” Michael said. “And it just has to come down to, how many times do you have to get hit to realize there’s going to be another one coming, you know?”
Scott McIntosh is the opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman.
Eve Devitt recently came home to Boise from New York City to show her friend the beauty of Idaho.
They went to Bruneau Sand Dunes, Craters of the Moon, stopped at the Hemingway Memorial, went to Galena Lodge, and visited Stanley and McCall.
“She wanted to show her her state,” Eve’s father Michael Devitt told me in an interview. “And she’s like, ‘I can’t do that now. We could not make that trip again,’ which it’s kind of heartbreaking, because she loves Idaho so much.
“She loves Idaho, but Idaho doesn’t love her back.”
Eve is a transgender woman and as of July 1, it will be illegal for Eve to use a woman’s bathroom.
The Idaho Legislature passed and Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 752, which makes it a crime for any person to knowingly and willfully enter a restroom, changing room, locker room or shower room in a government-owned building or place of public accommodation designated for the opposite biological sex.
The first offense is a misdemeanor with up to 1 year in jail, and a second offense within five years is a felony with up to five years in prison.
Little signed the bill on International Transgender Day of Visibility, which Michael said was just another slap in the face.
“For our family, the thing that was just really a kick in the teeth, was that when Gov. Little signed this bill, he did it during the Trans Day of Visibility ceremony,” he said. “In case you ever wondered about the character of Brad Little — now we know… that was just cruel… reprehensible… that was intentional.”
House Bill 752 was also “the last straw” for the Devitt family, which includes Michael, his wife, Dr. Angie Devitt, who is president of the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians, and their two daughters, Eve and Isabelle.
Michael, who has run Focus Physical Therapy for the last 28 years in Boise, will close the business by September for the purpose of preparing to move out of state.
“Obviously, this law is a disaster for families like ours,” Michael wrote to his patients. “We can no longer take a road trip across our beloved state, or even enjoy a family night out at a restaurant, or a movie, without running the risk of Eve being charged and sent to prison merely for using the facilities.”
I first interviewed Michael and Eve back in 2023, when the Legislature passed and Little signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. That was when Eve was 17, but Eve turned 18 in September, before the law went into effect the following January.
But over the past few years, the Idaho Legislature has continuously proposed and passed bills to place restrictions on transgender people, from banning them from sports to prohibiting trans people from changing the sex on their birth certificates and now telling them which bathrooms they’re legally allowed to use.
“We love Idaho, but our lawmakers and governor have spent the past five legislative sessions attacking Idaho’s transgender community, and there is a point at which hard decisions must be made,” Michael wrote to his patients.
All for a community of people that represents less than 1% of the population, and for a supposed problem that has zero evidence of existing in Idaho. Transgender women aren’t going into the women’s bathroom to attack and sexually assault women. Transgender men aren’t going into the men’s room to attack other men.
A 2025 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law looked at criminal reports of safety and privacy violations in localities with nondiscrimination laws that protected transgender access and localities that did not and found incidents of safety and privacy violations were rare, there was no significant difference in violations between the two types of localities and there was no evidence of an increase in violations from nondiscrimination laws.
The UCLA study also showed that transgender people get harassed or are denied use of a restroom – regardless of the gender-specific restroom they’re seeking to use. And in one study, 58% of respondents reported avoiding going out altogether due to a lack of access to a safe restroom.
With this new Idaho law, Eve will be forced to go to the men’s room, and people like Nikson Mathews, a transgender man, will be forced to use the women’s room. Monitoring and enforcement is going to get ugly and confusing.
The other thing this story illustrates is how everyone is affected by the state Legislature’s actions — whether you have a transgender family member or not. Michael Devitt’s patients will now have to find somewhere else to get physical therapy. And in a state with among the lowest number of doctors per capita, Idaho stands to lose another doctor in Angie Devitt, further exacerbating the problem and making it even harder for patients to find a doctor.
But for the Devitts, there’s little choice.
“Angie and I have just kind of come to the conclusion that anybody with transgender family members in Idaho, we’re basically in an abusive relationship with the state government,” Michael said. “And it just has to come down to, how many times do you have to get hit to realize there’s going to be another one coming, you know?”
Scott McIntosh is the opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman.
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