A first offense carries a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison. A second offense within five years is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Only three states\u2014Utah, Florida and Kansas\u2014have criminal bans on trans people using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates\u2014Idaho called the bill \u201cthe most extreme anti-transgender bathroom ban in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Little signed the bill into law Tuesday afternoon\u2014just as people rallied on the Capitol steps in Boise for Transgender Day of Visibility. The law takes effect July 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In the Republican supermajority-controlled Legislature, the bill had support from only Republicans\u2014and was opposed by all 15 Democrats and eight Republicans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
After the governor signed a bill Tuesday morning to fine cities for flying the LGBTQ+ pride flag, the city of Boise removed an LGBTQ+ pride flag that flew in front of City Hall. Boise Mayor Lauren McLean said the city had been flying the pride flag for a decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018Do I feel like going to jail today, or do I feel like being attacked?\u2019 trans man testifies<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n\nThe transgender bathroom ban bill builds on a wave of anti-LGTBQ+ bills that the Legislature and the governor have approved in recent years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nIn 2020, Idaho became the first state to ban transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. In 2023, state lawmakers made it a felony for doctors to provide gender-affirming health care to transgender youth. In 2024, lawmakers expanded the ban to apply to taxpayer funds and government property, which forbids Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Legislature also just passed a bill this year that would require teachers and doctors to out transgender minors to their parents or face lawsuits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd for more than a decade, efforts to add anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people to state law have failed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cOver the last several years, legislators have gone from refusing to protect us to actively targeting us,\u201d Nikson Mathews, who serves as chair of the Idaho Democratic Queer Caucus, said at a news conference in February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nMathews, a trans man with a beard, told a House committee earlier this year that the bathroom bill would force him to use the women\u2019s restroom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cEvery single day when I\u2019m out in public, I have to decide: Do I feel like going to jail today, or do I feel like being attacked,\u201d Mathews told lawmakers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nA 2025 study by the UCLA School of Law\u2019s Williams Institute found \u201cno evidence of increased harms to people who are not transgender when transgender people are allowed to use restrooms and other gendered facilities according to their identity.\u201d But when trans people are refused access to facilities that align with their gender, the study found that trans people report verbal harassment and physical assault.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In debate, Republicans cast the bill as protecting women\u2019s spaces. A Democrat called it discriminatory.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n\nLast week, Coeur d\u2019Alene Republican Sen. Ben Toews, who sponsored the bill, told senators that the bill protects \u201ccommon sense realities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe Legislature has a fundamental duty to protect the bodily privacy and safety of Idaho citizens,\u201d Toews said. \u201cHouse Bill 752 provides a clear, proactive tool to secure sex-separated private spaces in our state, while accommodating common-sense realities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nSen. Ron Taylor, a Democrat from Hailey, said the bill is about discrimination. He said constituents told him that they\u2019d move out of Idaho if it passed\u2014because it would throw their transgender children in jail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cNow maybe that\u2019s what some of us want, is to chase a population that\u2019s marginalized out of Idaho,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not Idaho. Idaho was founded by a population that was marginalized.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe bill was opposed by some law enforcement groups and several transgender Idahoans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe bill outlines several exceptions, including to give medical assistance, law enforcement assistance, and if someone \u201cis in dire need of urinating or defecating and such facility is the only facility reasonably available at the time of the person\u2019s use.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Idaho Fraternal Order of Police flagged that exception as concerning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cOfficers responding to a complaint would be placed in the difficult position of determining an individual\u2019s biological sex in order to enforce the statute,\u201d Idaho Fraternal Order of Police President Bryan Lovell wrote. \u201cIn many circumstances, there is no clear or reasonable way for officers to make that determination without engaging in questioning or investigative actions that could be viewed as invasive and inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill that criminalizes transgender people using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, including in private businesses. House Bill 752 will create criminal charges for people who \u201cknowingly and willfully\u201d enter a bathroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex, with some exceptions. The bill would … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Idaho-governor-signs-bill-to-criminalize-trans-people-using-bathrooms.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26161,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159\/revisions\/26161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The transgender bathroom ban bill builds on a wave of anti-LGTBQ+ bills that the Legislature and the governor have approved in recent years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In 2020, Idaho became the first state to ban transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. In 2023, state lawmakers made it a felony for doctors to provide gender-affirming health care to transgender youth. In 2024, lawmakers expanded the ban to apply to taxpayer funds and government property, which forbids Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Legislature also just passed a bill this year that would require teachers and doctors to out transgender minors to their parents or face lawsuits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
And for more than a decade, efforts to add anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people to state law have failed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cOver the last several years, legislators have gone from refusing to protect us to actively targeting us,\u201d Nikson Mathews, who serves as chair of the Idaho Democratic Queer Caucus, said at a news conference in February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mathews, a trans man with a beard, told a House committee earlier this year that the bathroom bill would force him to use the women\u2019s restroom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cEvery single day when I\u2019m out in public, I have to decide: Do I feel like going to jail today, or do I feel like being attacked,\u201d Mathews told lawmakers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A 2025 study by the UCLA School of Law\u2019s Williams Institute found \u201cno evidence of increased harms to people who are not transgender when transgender people are allowed to use restrooms and other gendered facilities according to their identity.\u201d But when trans people are refused access to facilities that align with their gender, the study found that trans people report verbal harassment and physical assault.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In debate, Republicans cast the bill as protecting women\u2019s spaces. A Democrat called it discriminatory.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n\nLast week, Coeur d\u2019Alene Republican Sen. Ben Toews, who sponsored the bill, told senators that the bill protects \u201ccommon sense realities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe Legislature has a fundamental duty to protect the bodily privacy and safety of Idaho citizens,\u201d Toews said. \u201cHouse Bill 752 provides a clear, proactive tool to secure sex-separated private spaces in our state, while accommodating common-sense realities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nSen. Ron Taylor, a Democrat from Hailey, said the bill is about discrimination. He said constituents told him that they\u2019d move out of Idaho if it passed\u2014because it would throw their transgender children in jail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cNow maybe that\u2019s what some of us want, is to chase a population that\u2019s marginalized out of Idaho,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not Idaho. Idaho was founded by a population that was marginalized.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe bill was opposed by some law enforcement groups and several transgender Idahoans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe bill outlines several exceptions, including to give medical assistance, law enforcement assistance, and if someone \u201cis in dire need of urinating or defecating and such facility is the only facility reasonably available at the time of the person\u2019s use.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Idaho Fraternal Order of Police flagged that exception as concerning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cOfficers responding to a complaint would be placed in the difficult position of determining an individual\u2019s biological sex in order to enforce the statute,\u201d Idaho Fraternal Order of Police President Bryan Lovell wrote. \u201cIn many circumstances, there is no clear or reasonable way for officers to make that determination without engaging in questioning or investigative actions that could be viewed as invasive and inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill that criminalizes transgender people using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, including in private businesses. House Bill 752 will create criminal charges for people who \u201cknowingly and willfully\u201d enter a bathroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex, with some exceptions. The bill would … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Idaho-governor-signs-bill-to-criminalize-trans-people-using-bathrooms.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26161,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159\/revisions\/26161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Last week, Coeur d\u2019Alene Republican Sen. Ben Toews, who sponsored the bill, told senators that the bill protects \u201ccommon sense realities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Legislature has a fundamental duty to protect the bodily privacy and safety of Idaho citizens,\u201d Toews said. \u201cHouse Bill 752 provides a clear, proactive tool to secure sex-separated private spaces in our state, while accommodating common-sense realities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Sen. Ron Taylor, a Democrat from Hailey, said the bill is about discrimination. He said constituents told him that they\u2019d move out of Idaho if it passed\u2014because it would throw their transgender children in jail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cNow maybe that\u2019s what some of us want, is to chase a population that\u2019s marginalized out of Idaho,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not Idaho. Idaho was founded by a population that was marginalized.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The bill was opposed by some law enforcement groups and several transgender Idahoans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The bill outlines several exceptions, including to give medical assistance, law enforcement assistance, and if someone \u201cis in dire need of urinating or defecating and such facility is the only facility reasonably available at the time of the person\u2019s use.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Idaho Fraternal Order of Police flagged that exception as concerning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cOfficers responding to a complaint would be placed in the difficult position of determining an individual\u2019s biological sex in order to enforce the statute,\u201d Idaho Fraternal Order of Police President Bryan Lovell wrote. \u201cIn many circumstances, there is no clear or reasonable way for officers to make that determination without engaging in questioning or investigative actions that could be viewed as invasive and inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill that criminalizes transgender people using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, including in private businesses. House Bill 752 will create criminal charges for people who \u201cknowingly and willfully\u201d enter a bathroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex, with some exceptions. The bill would … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Idaho-governor-signs-bill-to-criminalize-trans-people-using-bathrooms.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26161,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26159\/revisions\/26161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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