Advocates for Idaho's gay, lesbian and transgender communities will head back to the Legislature next year to take another run at amending Idaho's Human Rights Act.

But first, they're doing something that makes a lot of political sense. They are going to Idaho communities making the case to expand a state law that prohibits workplace and housing discrimination.

They've been spending the legislative off-season organizing, trying to build a statewide network of supporters who can lobby their hometown lawmakers. "We're slowly building that infrastructure," Taryn Magrini, public policy director for the Idaho Women's Network, told the Statesman editorial board Tuesday.

They're also lobbying officials in Moscow and Pocatello to expand their city employee policies to protect workers from discrimination based on "gender identity." Both cities' policies already prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 2006, the Boise City Council added language to city policies, covering both sexual orientation and gender identity.

It's a shrewd strategy to begin at the local level, since advocates face an uphill fight in the Statehouse. In one of the surprises of the 2008 session, supporters actually managed to get a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate. The bill never got a hearing, however; State Affairs Committee Chairman Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa, held the bill because he didn't think it had the votes to pass in committee.

Six months later, that decision still rankles supporters. Choosing her words carefully, Magrini calls McKenzie's decision illogical. Pam Baldwin of the Interfaith Alliance is blunt. "(It was) a lame excuse."

This coalition obviously won't be content to merely introduce a bill in 2009 and draw attention to discrimination issues. They want a hearing, which isn't asking for too much. A good grassroots network, and some victories at the city level, would make it more difficult for lawmakers such as McKenzie to brush this issue aside.