POCATELLO — Brandi Palmer joined a local rally Saturday to promote human rights.

    Palmer and others marched to show support for Senate Bill 1033, recently introduced by Sen. Edgar Malepeai, to add sexual orientation and gender identity to Idaho’s anti-discrimination law.

    “This is about promoting workplace equality,” she said. “Right now it is not a protected group.”

    Pocatello’s Too Great for Hate, Idaho State University’s Too Great for Hate, Pocatello Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Alliance (LGBTSA) and other groups rallied to show their support with flyers and posters.

    Event organizer Chris Cooke said he expected about 20 people to show up, but the crowd was more than double that figure. He hoped the event would promote a dialogue within the community.

    “We are drawing attention to the fact that people in our own community are subjugated to harassment in the workplace and can be fired for who they are,” Cooke said. “We are here to correct that injustice.”

    Part of the bill is to protect people against harassment in school.

    “There has been some bullying that has gone on at local high schools recently,” Cooke said. “We also had a youth suicide within our LGBT community. SafeSchools — one of the partners leading the organization statewide — they are the ones that are behind this as well and they are addressing the bullying that is going on.”

    Sammee Wortham, 20, said the march from Pocatello City Hall to the Bannock County Courthouse was to show the community that the bill is important to more than a handful of people.

    Wortham was pleased with the people who came to support those who have been harassed.

    “Bullying in high school is brutal,” she said. “It will help high school be less treacherous. ... I don’t think any child should have to stay home from school because of bullying.”