The unfortunate reality in Idaho since 2015 is that state legislators have restricted the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ Idahoans, especially if they identify as trans or gender non-conforming, BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color), low income, and have uteruses. In 2025, legislators in Idaho passed laws that specifically restrict and harm trans Idahoans; just as queer people - particularly gay men - were scapegoats in twentieth-century Idaho, trans people are blamed for numerous social challenges and have become the primary focus of repressive local and national legislation today.[1]

Idaho State Capitol lit with rainbow lights to celebrate Pride, 2017. Photograph by Micah Hetherington.

Like the stories of those shared in this exhibit, all is not “doom and gloom.” After the Doe v. Wasden lawsuit was settled in U.S. district court in 2022, the Idaho Legislature struck down the state’s ICAN law as applied to consenting adults.[2] In another positive sign of resilience, Canyon County Pride began in 2024 in an area of Idaho traditionally known for conservativism. When the state of Idaho passed a law against flying non-official flags at government buildings in 2025, Boise City Council responded by adopting the Pride flag as one of the city’s official flags.[3]

Patterns in incarceration can be found in the stories shared in this exhibit, but no one experience of being queer in Idaho exists. Factors like racism, classism, heteronormativity, religious beliefs, eugenicist beliefs, and gender binarism influenced discrimination against queer inmates at the Idaho State Penitentiary. Some of the discrimination took the form of segregating inmates for their “safety,” medicalizing their sexual attractions, imposing harsher sentencing for those who could not afford hired legal counsel, and policing their private lives during parole.

While state law attempted to stop queer people from openly loving one another, some people inside and outside the prison system acknowledged the humanity of incarcerated people. Some queer inmate stories rebuke narratives of family rejection and lonely lives, and in their place give space for community building no matter the threat of legal action.

Queer people existed and faced punishment for existing in Idaho, and their lives reflect more than the pain of hiding their true selves. Some, like Eleanor Archuleta, continued to love whom they chose and stayed true to themselves. Others seemed to go back into hiding, with the rest of their stories shrouded in unanswered questions. Many lived at a time when openly discussing sexuality and gender happened only in tight-knit circles, with varying levels of documentation.

These were and are stories of community members, some of whom still live in Idaho. The stories of inmates in this exhibit deserve to be remembered in the penitentiary and state’s history because they demonstrate the ongoing struggle for social and legal freedom to express one’s identity.

Notes

[1] These include but are not limited to HB 59, which allows healthcare workers to deny service based on personal beliefs; HB 264, which blocks trans people from using bathrooms at shelters, universities, and correctional facilities; HB 345, which blocks Medicaid users from accessing trans-related healthcare; HB 352, which blocks teaching anything about sexuality or gender identity in public schools; and HB 480, which prohibits the Department of Health and Welfare's Division of Behavioral Health from appropriating funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion projects  or “transgender ideology.”

[2] Rebecca Boone and Betsy Z. Russell, “Idaho Settles Lawsuit over Antiquated Anti-sodomy Law,” Idaho Press, 10 Nov. 2022.

[3] Victor Mather, “Salt Lake City and Boise Adopt Official Pride Flags in Response to State Laws,” New York Times, 7 May 2025.