BOISE -- Most Idahoans do not fight anti-gay and anti-abortion legislation or defend free speech and the separation of church and state, because it would put them out of their comfort zone.
But when Jack Van Valkenburgh came upon the American Civil Liberties Union after law school, "I felt like I had really found home."Van Valkenburgh, executive director for Idaho, tackles some of the state's most contentious issues -- from drug testing and reproductive rights to religious liberty and censorship.
But, said Mary Kelly McColl, executive director of Idaho Planned Parenthood, "He is not easily riled."
And Van Valkenburgh's ideological opposite, Idaho Family Forum director Dennis Mansfield, calls him "a dear friend, someone I have a great deal of respect for."
McColl said Van Valkenburgh "demonstrates a lot of empathy and sympathy for people.
"I find him uniquely able as a man to relate to reproductive freedom issues of women," he said. "He also knows enough to say when he can't relate."
The most frequent complaints Van Valkenburgh has to deal with revolve around the separation of church and state -- prayer in school and religious public monuments.
"Everybody has the right to practice their religion, but when a government advances religion, that really undermines religious freedom," he said.
The Constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion is why America has the greatest religious diversity in the world, he said, and that is why he is willing to take the heat.
"I don't get death threats very much," Van Valkenburgh said, pulling out a half-dozen cassette tapes of angry voice-mail messages. "It's ironic that the angriest calls we get are about our position and our activities to keep church and state separate."
Elizabeth Brandt, Idaho's delegate to the national ACLU and a law professor at the University of Idaho, said she has known Van Valkenburgh for 10 years and has never seen him seem depressed in the face of opposition.
"You kind of have to accept that you're working for a minority number of people. Most people are going to disagree with you," she said.
"It is really funny that many people don't appreciate us, at least not until they need us," Van Valkenburgh said. "The ACLU is kind of like the firefighters for the Bill of Rights.
"We defend anybody's right to say or believe anything they want," he said. "People confuse our defense of that right with defense of the message."
Although many Idahoans believe the ACLU conveys a radical message, Van Valkenburgh contends the opposite is true.
"We're conveying the most conservative message, which is the Bill of Rights must be cherished and respected," he said.
Van Valkenburgh worked with Jen Ray in 1994 to defeat Proposition 1, the anti-gay initiative. Ray is executive director of the Idaho Women's Network.
"He really exemplifies the ACLU as a really committed person to civil liberties and individual freedom," Ray said. "And wherever that is challenged, he unflinchingly defends those rights. Even when he knows it's not the most popular position to take, bottom line is preserving the Constitution."
Van Valkenburgh received the Ponderosa Award at the Community Center's 1995 Elm Awards for being the heterosexual male who has been the most supportive of the gay community.
Mansfield disagrees with Van Valkenburgh about gay rights. Mansfield said he was "attacked viciously" for a recent opinion column on the life expectancy of the gay community, but Van Valkenburgh did not join in.
A photo of Mansfield and Van Valkenburgh hangs in both men's offices.
"If Jesus hung out with the tax collectors, I can have friends in the ACLU," Mansfield said.
Van Valkenburgh pressed Canyon County commissioners to provide Spanish-language emergency evacuation signs in the courthouse so residents who do not speak English could understand how to leave safely. The commissioners finally voted to install them, although most of the 80 letters coming in to the Idaho Press-Tribune disagreed.
"So long as we're doing the right thing, I won't flinch at opposition, even if it's loud," he said.
Phyllis Smith brought complaints to the ACLU in 1996 to challenge the Nampa School Board's policy of offering non-credit seminary to Mormon students while those who were not interested were required to take a seventh academic hour, for credit, that was not necessary for graduation.
"The last thing the government permits is to be promoting religion, especially a particular religion," said Van Valkenburgh, who was pleased the school board agreed to allow a study hall as a non-credit alternative to Seminary.
He has been interested in civil liberties since he emerged from Boston's Northeastern Law School in 1982. When he arrived in Idaho in 1987, he noticed there was not an ACLU office but only a chapter that filed an occasional lawsuit and was not independent of the national organization.
Van Valkenburgh joined the ACLU as a lobbyist for the 1990 Legislature. Today, the Idaho affiliate has 850 members, but still is the youngest in the country.
He believes in the ethic of making the most out of every hour.
If you set your mind on what you want, you can get it," Van Valkenburgh said. "If you can't get that particular thing, you can still get so much by striving."