Some Idaho Republican lawmakers change their votes on gay marriage. Here's why

Carolyn Komatsoulis, The Idaho Statesman on Mar 10, 2026

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BOISE, Idaho — A memorial asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn gay marriage lost some support in the Idaho Legislature.

Idaho lawmakers voted Tuesday on a rerun of a 2025 memorial asking the nation’s highest court to overturn its landmark 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Gay marriage has been legal in Idaho since 2014 under a federal appeals-court ruling in another case.

But this year, the proposal got two more no votes in the House, than in 2025, meaning 17 Republicans joined every Democrat in voting against it. The final vote was 44 to 26.

“At the risk of probably committing political suicide … this entire argument is rooted in the Bible” said Grayson Stone, a long-term substitute for a sick Twin Falls Republican lawmaker. Stone said parts of the Bible instruct people how to shave. “I just don’t understand why we have to apply the Bible to specific aspects of our life, but not all of it. So I will be voting against this bill.”

Stone, who is running for the seat, is one of the people whose vote changed from the 2025 resolution to the 2026 resolution. He’s filling in for Rep. Don Hall, R-Twin Falls, who replaced former Rep. Lance Clow, who voted yes in 2025.

The 2026 memorial’s sponsor, Rep. Tony Wisniewski, R-Post Falls, said the state had the “duty and the right” to recognize a specific definition of marriage.

“It is not the intent of overturning the Obergefell decision to tear apart bonds," Wisniewski said on the House floor before the vote. “Those are something that are innate to us as humans. What we object to is the debasing of the term of marriage to that of something that is abhorrent to many of us.”

It’s unclear how far this legislation could get. The 2025 memorial passed the House but was not taken up in the Senate.

Popular support for gay marriage has soared over the last few decades. It’s hard to find public opinion polling in Idaho, but a 2022 Statesman poll showed 49% supported legal same-sex marriage in Idaho.

Just under 400 same-sex or partner-and-partner couples married in 2023, out of almost 14,000 Idaho marriages.

Other Republicans changed their votes: Rep. Dori Healey, R-Boise, switched her vote from yes in 2025 to no in 2026, as did Rep. Mike Pohanka, R-Jerome. Last year, Idaho Falls Rep. Marco Erickson voted no, but a substitute for him voted yes on Tuesday.

Healey declined to comment. Pohanka told the Statesman that he was tired of the rhetoric and wanted to get back to legislating and working on the state’s business. He added that he represents all his constituents.

“My religious beliefs have not changed any. I thought we advanced it last year,” Pohanka said. “This year, to me, it’s just going to cause hurt and pain and I don’t want to do that.”

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