Anti-discrimination bills for the LGBTQ+ community have wide support. So why can’t a bill get passed?

More than twenty years of attempts to get protections in place have failed as queer lives become more politicized.

Twenty-two states have comprehensive LGBTQ+ civil rights laws on the books. Arizona, though, is not one of them.

The fight to pass an anti-discrimination bill is now more than twenty years old here. Since at least 2002, Arizona lawmakers—mostly Democrats, but also some Republicans—have repeatedly introduced bills that would include sexual orientation and gender identity among the state’s protected classes, such as race, sex, and religion. And although those bills varied in scope, they would have generally protected LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in employment, housing, or public accommodations. 

But none of those bills went anywhere. 

Instead, protection within the state is enforced by local municipalities; only 11 Arizona cities have ordinances that indicate being LGBTQ+ as a…