So just as I decided to be whiny about it, I’ve been given a good reminder of why I should be grateful to live in Portland. The entire Internet has been mocking the Idaho gubernatorial debate today, with its wacky Bible-quotin’ conspiracy-theory-spoutin’ candidates. This brings back lovely memories, as I used to live in Idaho. Only for a short time, but still, wow.
The Idaho of today seems at least slightly less homophobic, as one of the debaters opined that gay people love each other more than he does his motorcycle. I can still remember the guy at my Boise school who told me that if he found out a person was gay, he would have no problem whatsoever with killing them (shudder). Then there were the male students in my college class (a college class!) responding to a female professor’s lecture by saying that yes, in fact, women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. While the boys were a bit more rude about it, the girls explained to me in a nice and polite way that they were going to submit to their husbands when they got married. I think my jaw dropped to the ground and stayed there for the entire five years I lived in that state.
In the end, it was too much for us. We couldn’t handle Idaho. Having just come from a stint in Holland and New York, the culture shock was too extreme to overcome. We were singing on the day we packed up our U-Haul to leave. And then it was time for our romance with Portland to begin.
I would like to add that there were a few wonderful and open-minded people I met in Idaho as well. I feel for them–it’s not an easy life for those brave individuals.
eurobrat 
05/17/2014 at 6:00 am
Like you I too moved to Portland (in my case Estacada about 25 miles away) after a brief stint in Idaho (Pocatello) ,
Not to bore you with my life but I the father of a transgender daughter. I worked with one trangendered person in Idaho (As far as I know the only one) who I had the utmost respect for to be able to live there. I actually work with several transgendered people here (I work in Gresham) Bottom Line I never invited my daughter who lives in Berkley to Idaho for fer of her safety. Here even in rural Estacada I would have no major concerns. Everyone I mentioned her ro has responded in a positive way many saying they have a friend or family member who is transgender.
That said I would like to point out that I did meet several good and caring people in Idaho and that I am in no way saying my Transgender friends and acquaintances who live here have it easy, but they are diffidently more accepted.
05/17/2014 at 8:55 pm
Yeah, I definitely wasn’t trying to generalize either. There’s homophobia here in Portland too, and like I said I made some amazing and caring friends in Idaho that I remember to this day. But there is a difference. That judgmental kind of thinking about social issues was just pervasive in Idaho life, it was everywhere, every day. It’s not that way here.
Thank you for sharing about your and your daughter’s experience. I’m glad to hear she feels accepted, for the most part, here in Oregon.
05/18/2014 at 7:50 pm
There are parts of Idaho where people are more liberal and accepting of LGBT folks. My spouse (who is transgender) and I live in Boise and have a number of transgender friends here. Everybody we’ve met has been accepting of us, and this includes the kind of random interactions one has with people in stores and restaurants. It IS a very strange dynamic to be living in the state capitol, which feels fairly liberal, and to witness the extreme conservatism coming out of the capitol building. There were so many things about this last legislative session that amazed and dismayed us. But, we love it here. Boise is a wonderful outdoorsy town with lots of sunshine and access to trails.
05/18/2014 at 8:42 pm
Aha, so it has changed for the better, then! Back when I lived there (which admittedly was in the early 90s) even Boise itself was a lot less accepting. I’m very happy to hear this, pikaperdu. I do know people who enjoy living there. I’m not much of an outdoorsy person–even Portland is a bit too outdoorsy for me–so it may not have been the right place 🙂 Thank you for reading!!
05/18/2014 at 10:13 pm
We’ve only been in Boise for a little over a year, so our perspective is a very recent one. I think there are a lot of places around the country that are just now beginning to be accepting of LGBT people. Sad to say, the smaller towns are probably going to take longer to come around. And Idaho has a lot of those.
05/19/2014 at 12:08 pm
Yeah, there are a lot of small towns in Oregon too, and they’re not nearly as accepting as Portland either. (With the exception of a few college towns.)
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