Jon Downing thinks maybe he'll get married in two decades.

Not because the 29-year-old necessarily wants to wait.

But that's when he suspects it will finally be legal for him to do so in Idaho.

"I'm hoping two years out," said Downing, a Coeur d'Alene resident open to admitting he is gay, even when he expects a variety of reactions. "But the reality is it's probably going to take a little bit longer to change people's hearts and minds."

There are signs to indicate it's already happening, with same-sex marriage legislation whipping through the Washington Legislature and gaining approval on Wednesday, the day after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down California's Proposition 8 outlawing gay marriage.

Idaho following soon might be a tall order. Just on Friday, a Senate committee rejected amending the state's Human Rights Act to protect LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) individuals from workplace and housing discrimination.

The key, Downing is convinced, is educating the public about tolerance and LGBT issues. He himself runs a speakers' bureau at North Idaho College that trains future professionals on LGBT matters relevant to their areas of study.

"With a little education and a little communication, we can really give people a better understanding," Downing said. "Make it easier for them to not fear the unknown."

Educate the public, dissolve the barrier of fear, he says. With knowledge comes acceptance, hopefully spurring voters to phone their legislators about expanding marriage laws.

"I've talked to older friends of mine and they say it wasn't even a vision (in their time)," said Downing, adding that he wants to marry in his state of residence. "I think it one day is going to be an eventuality."

Slim Odds

Not anytime soon, says Sen. John Goedde.

"I don't think there's a realistic chance," the Coeur d'Alene Republican said of a gay-marriage bill being proposed in the state Legislature this year.

Idaho is just more packed with conservatives than Washington, Goedde said, who lawmakers will represent in casting their votes.

Even alternative measures like domestic partnerships will flounder, he believes.

"On the House side, it wouldn't have a chance," Goedde said, adding that the House has consistently proven to be the more conservative body.

His own opinion is pretty firm.

"I guess I'm still old fashioned. I believe marriage is an act between a man and a woman," Goedde said.

Maybe the opinion isn't surprising, considering Idaho's Legislature has no openly gay members as Washington's does.

But Rep. Bob Nonini pointed out that Idaho citizens revealed their opinions in November 2006, when 60 percent of voters approved an amendment banning gays from marriage and domestic legal unions.

That considered, the Coeur d'Alene lawmaker doesn't believe a law like Washington's would succeed here.

"It's been on the books for six years," Nonini said.

The Legislature appears to have taken a solid stance against same-sex marriage, said Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls.

He would be surprised to see a bill even get to the point of introduction to change Idaho's current policy.

"The concerns that I hear are concerns for employers, them having to cover same-sex spouses," Hammond said. "Most (legislators) that I hear talk about that, suggest it's morally wrong and they wouldn't even entertain it."

Sen. Frank Henderson said he remembers a gay marriage bill being defeated several years ago, and doesn't expect that many opinions have changed since then.

"It's just with me, I find it's a behavior that I personally find difficult to accept," he said of gay relationships. "I voted no years ago and probably would continue to do so."

He isn't alone.

A law like Washington's, giving married gay couples the same rights as wedded heterosexuals, is giving special consideration to same-sex couples that other co-habitating couples don't enjoy, said Rep. Vito Barbieri.

"I just can't imagine the Pandora's box that that opens," the Dalton Gardens lawmaker said of Washington's passed legislation. "I can't imagine how many thousands of years mankind has been on the planet, but there's definitely been a reason marriage has been between a man and a woman."

Pastor Ron Hunter with the Church of the Nazarene said he has also gauged a lack of support in North Idaho for gay marriage, due to the high number of religious conservatives.

Many have concerns about gay relationships because they don't result in procreation, he said, or because some feel they are unnatural.

"It's a moral issue for conservatives," Hunter said.

Not Giving Up

No argument, North Idaho shows some opposition to the gay lifestyle, Downing noted.

Look at conservatives' condemnation of the Lake City Playhouse's production of Rent, he pointed out. Although physical violence is rare, he has had students threatened and badgered on the NIC campus even for wearing a rainbow colored bracelet showing LGBT support, he said.

"Part of it is engrained in society, and it's taught. Nobody's born intolerant," Downing said.

But Danni Bain, president of the Gay-Straight Alliance at NIC, said she thinks that those are a passionate minority in the area.

Her organization has had positive responses this week when distributing literature about gay marriage, she said, as part of National Marriage Week. A petition for a same-sex marriage law posted on campus collected 30 signatures in the first hour.

"I feel for the most part, nobody really cares," Bain said of whether same-sex individuals want to wed. "Those who it does bother them, they're very loud and pushy with their opinions."

In a heterosexual relationship herself, Bain said she supports gay marriage because she wants to see everyone given the same civil rights.

"I don't want people I care about to continue to struggle," Bain said. "When I'm older and have kids, I don't want them to feel they can't be comfortable being who they are."

It will help to have Washington as an example, believes Matt Cannon, a board member with the Inland Northwest LGBT Center who was active in lobbying for the Washington legislation.

"It's not such a foreign concept, when people see Washington didn't fall apart because they got it," Cannon said. "I think that with Idaho being a neighbor to Washington state, that is going to give traction and momentum to marriage equality in Idaho."

Getting to this point in Washington wasn't easy, Cannon said, noting that past legislative attempts failed.

It started as grassroots advocacy and education programs, he said, much like Downing's, combined with relentless campaigning.

Pivotal was first getting legislation passed that allowed for domestic partnerships, Cannon said.

"I think that if Idaho can get domestic partnership legislation enacted, that people will see, given time, that really that was not a major impact on anything really," he said. "I think that then pushing for full-fledged marriage equality would then be the next logical step."

Same-sex marriage is being pursued nationwide for two reasons, Cannon added. First, because it provides legitimacy to couples who want a lifetime together, especially if that involves fostering or adopting children.

"It provides a more stable home, because there's that commitment and that bond," Cannon said, adding that he has raised children with a gay partner.

Marriage also allows legal entitlements significant for a such a commitment, he said, like having a say in a partner's medical decision if they're unable to make it themselves, as well as tax and healthcare benefits and rights to property and inheritance.

"Two heterosexual people can go down to the courthouse, file, get married and are automatically entitled to certain privileges," Cannon said.

Sure, Idaho is conservative, the Spokane resident said, adding that he used to live in Twin Falls.

But so is a large part of Washington, he noted, and many Idaho areas like Coeur d'Alene have pockets of progressive residents.

As long as advocates continue on after each defeat, he said, change will happen.

"I think the people who believe in family and love and commitment will see that this really doesn't impact them personally," Cannon said. "This only allows others who have the same sort of commitment and love the same legal protections and rights and responsibilities that come along with it."