Outspoken: Paul Munson

Being gay in Idaho is not always easy, and now state politicians are trying to make it even more difficult. HJR2-a proposed amendment to Idaho's constitution that would prohibit civil unions or domestic partnerships while narrowly defining marriage-would affect thousands of gay and lesbian couples by prohibiting them from being able to petition their legislature for even basic protections that are deemed "marriage-like."

Some Idahoans are not willing to sit idly by and allow such hateful legislation to be written into our constitution. One such Idahoan is Andrew Yoder, the campaign manager for Idaho Votes No. One day, as I was about to go to the Idaho State Fair with my friends, my mom told me about an article regarding a straight man who dropped everything in his life to fight for gay rights. He had a booth at the fair.

When I visited I signed up to volunteer, not really knowing what to expect. I asked some questions about HJR2 and how it would be detrimental to Idaho's families. Pretty quickly I started e-mailing people at the organization and volunteering at the Idaho Votes No offices. Since then I have been very passionate in spreading the word about the goals of Idaho Votes No and how we will win on November 7.