'Patchwork Of Protection' In Rural Areas For LGBT Community Has Limits

Pocatello, Idaho, and Laramie, Wyo., might not be the first places you think of leading the charge to protect the LGBT community from discrimination. But in these rural, Republican-led states, local governments are taking the matter into their own hands.

Twenty-year-old college student CylieAnn Erickson was in the room when the city council in Laramie passed its LGBT anti-discrimination bill earlier this year. She says that when the final vote was counted, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"So I don't have to ... like have that in the back of my mind, like oh, this isn't going to be why I'm fired. If I'm fired, it's going to be because I'm doing a bad job," Erickson says.

The ordinance bans discrimination against LGBT people in employment, housing and public accommodations like bars and restaurants. It has extra meaning because just a few months earlier, the Wyoming State Legislature voted down a bill that would have done the same statewide.

More