Law barring Idaho’s transgender students from preferred bathrooms to go into effect

BOISE – Idaho’s transgender students soon will be barred from using restrooms that align with their gender identity.

A federal judge Thursday lifted a temporary block on an Idaho law restricting which bathrooms transgender students can use.

Senate Bill 1100, which Republican lawmakers enacted earlier this year, prohibits transgender students from using restrooms and locker rooms that align with their preferred gender identity. The law also allows other students to sue their school if they encounter a student using a bathroom that doesn’t align with their sex at birth.

In July, Lambda Legal, a national LGBTQ+ civil rights group, sued the state on behalf of an Idaho transgender student. Attorneys for Lambda Legal argued that SB 1100 unconstitutionally discriminates against students based on their gender identities.

Chief U.S. District Judge David Nye in August issued a temporary restraining order, pausing the law from going into effect before the school year started. But Nye ruled Thursday that SB 1100 distinguishes who can use a restroom based on sex, not gender identity, and the legislation is “substantially related to the government’s important interest in protecting the privacy and safety of students” while using a restroom or changing room.

The plaintiffs failed to meet a burden showing their constitutional challenge would succeed, Nye ruled.

“Although it likely comes as little solace to Idaho’s transgender students who, as a result of the court’s decision today, may have to change their routines, or who, regrettably, may face other societal hardships, the court must stay within its lane,” Nye wrote. “Its duty is to interpret the law; it is not a policy-making body.”

Nye denied Lambda Legal’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and the temporary block on the law will expire in 21 days.

The federal judge also denied the state’s request to dismiss the case, which means it will continue. Nye wrote that state attorneys sought to dismiss all of Lambda Legal’s claims in a “perfunctory manner, with little explanation.”

A patchwork of local school district rules regulate which bathrooms transgender students may use. Roughly a quarter of Idaho schools allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity, according to a previous decision from Nye.

Idaho Superintendent for Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield, members of the Idaho State Board of Education and members of the Boise School District’s board of trustees are defendants in the ongoing case.

Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, sponsored SB 1100, and the Idaho Family Policy Center, a Christian lobbying group, helped write it.