Tony Perkins, president of the Christian conservative Family Research Council (FRC), applauded an Idaho House committee's decision to kill a bill that sought to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion and national origin in employment, housing, education and public accommodations.

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee voted 13-4 along party lines, with Democrats voting in the minority, to pass on the so-called “Add the Words” bill after hearing more than 20 hours of public testimony over three days.

Supporters who far outnumbered opponents held an impromptu protest in the halls of the statehouse after the vote. Many openly wept as they stood silently holding their hands over their mouths.

Among those who testified was FRC's Peter Sprigg.

Sprigg warned lawmakers that such laws “prepare the way for reverse discrimination.”

“The more open homosexuals and transgendered people become, the more people who hold traditional values will be forced to conceal their sincerely-held personal beliefs – or face punishment for expressing them. This has happened even when an employee's views are expressed outside of work, and even when no explicit reference is made to sexual orientation or gender identity,” he testified.

In an email to supporters, Perkins described the vote as citizens “finally standing up to the government's anti-faith bullies.”

“In Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, Republicans are moving quickly on measures that would penalize any government employee caught issuing same-sex 'marriage' licenses – regardless of the courts' orders,” Perkins said. “Meanwhile, Utah, North Carolina, and South Carolina are desperately trying to give cover to anyone with religious objections to same-sex 'marriage' by drafting bills that would give government officials the ability to opt out of licensing or officiating same-sex couples. The brushfire over religious liberty continues in places like Idaho, where citizens are finally standing up to the government's anti-faith bullies. After three days and hundreds of testimonies (including FRC's Peter Sprigg's), the state's heated debate came to a sudden end when Idaho's House committee downed a Houston-type special rights ordinance that would have punished people with natural views on human biology and sexuality. By a 13-4 vote, Republicans succeeded in killing the measure. In the end, conservatives made it clear to the Left's Add the Words campaign that the only words that matter are the First Amendment's. Congratulations to our friends in the Gem State, who are adding their voices to those across the country who have the courage to fight back against these fierce assaults to our most basic freedoms.”