Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).
Six transgender Idahoans sue state to block bathroom law before July 1
Six transgender Idahoans filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop Idaho’s bathroom law, saying it unlawfully restricts transgender residents’ access to public spaces.
By Emma Maple | FāVS News Reporter
Main Points
Six transgender people are suing Idaho for banning people from using sex-segregated facilities that do not align with their sex at birth, asking the district court to bar the law from going into effect on July 1.
The law, passed by a predominantly Christian legislature, received pushback from local Christian leaders who argued that the law was not Christian-like and was an attempt to push transgender people out of Idaho.
In April, six transgender Idaho residents challenged the law in the U.S. District Court of Idaho, arguing that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating against people who are transgender without being clearly tailored to meet legitimate government interests.
“The fact that it applies to private businesses, and every place of public accommodation in Idaho, speaks to how sweeping the effect will be on transgender people,” Emily Croston, attorney for the ACLU of Idaho, said in an interview. “It really locks transgender folks out of being able to participate in their day to day lives.”
The lawsuit is being represented by the ACLU, the ACLU of Idaho, Alturas Law Group and Lambda Legal. At least one of the attorneys is transgender, according to the ACLU of Idaho.
On Friday, lawyers debated the preliminary injunction in front of Judge Amanda Brailsford. If approved, the preliminary injunction would bar the law from going into effect until the case is litigated and a final decision is made.
Croston said she hopes to hear back on the preliminary injunction by June 15.
Law applies to government and private spaces open to public
The law that is being debated is unique among laws targeting transgender people for using sex-segregated facilities of their choice, according to the ACLU of Idaho, because it applies to both government buildings and private businesses that are open to the public — including churches and other religious institutions.
Out of all 21 states that have similar laws for certain institutions, Idaho’s law also carries the steepest penalties, the ACLU of Idaho said.
The law requires transgender people to only use bathrooms, changing rooms or similar facilities that align with their sex at birth — no matter what gender they identify as.
Violating the law carries criminal penalties. Anyone convicted of a first violation will receive a misdemeanor, with the potential of up to a year in jail, and anyone convicted of a second violation within five years will receive a felony, with the potential of up to five years in prison.
There are 11 exceptions to the law, including things like providing medical assistance or doing maintenance.
Law said to limit public lives of transgender individuals, plaintiffs argue
The complaint, filed by six defendants who hope the court will grant it class action status, claims that the law will “inevitably limit transgender individuals’ willingness or ability to participate in public life,” including “attending school or work, traveling, advocating at the legislature, attending places of worship or other activities outside their homes.”
Amelia Milette, a 50-year-old transgender woman and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement that she will “now have to evaluate every social activity I participate in against the risk I’ll experience if I need access to a bathroom facility.”
“This new law does not protect anyone,” she added. “It only puts people like me in danger.”
Many state senators and representatives who spoke in favor of the bill while it was being debated declared it a form of protection, citing the need to keep women and girls safe from “indecent exposure.”
Others have argued that the law is an attempt to make transgender people unwelcome in Idaho.
“The legislature considered and enacted HB 752 alongside a slate of bills seeking to push transgender Idahoans out of public life,” the lawsuit complaint read.
Croston, the attorney for the ACLU, said the law “doesn’t require anyone entering a bathroom to have some sort of intention to perform a bad act.”
Instead, Croston said, the law makes a prescriptive assumption about the intentions of people entering bathrooms that does not align with their sex assigned at birth.
“That reveals what they think about transgender folks,” she added.
Study challenges safety claims of bathroom law
A 2025 study by the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute, a research center conducting independent research on LGBTQ+ themes, found that there was no statistically reportable evidence of increased harm to cisgender people when transgender people use the restrooms that align with their gender identity.
However, the opposite does occur when transgender people are banned from their restroom of choice: 11% of transgender men were verbally harassed in women’s restrooms and 9% of transgender women were verbally harassed in men’s restrooms.
When transgender people used the bathroom in alignment with their gender identity, the verbal harassment went down to 7%, the report found.
If Idaho’s law survives legal scrutiny, several plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit said they were planning to alter their lifestyles in an attempt to avoid public restrooms, either by being less active outside of the home or drinking and eating less.
If the law is passed, transgender residents like 30-year-old plaintiff Zoey Wagner would have to plan all their outings around whether they could find a safe restroom to use, the lawsuit claimed.
“If HB 752 goes into effect, Zoey would try to avoid using public bathrooms in public by staying out in public less,” the complaint said.
FāVS News uses professional journalists and thoughtful commentary to explore faith, values and ethics. Support journalism like this by making a tax-deductible donation. FāVS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. © FāVS News. All rights reserved. Reproduction permitted only to authorized media partners or with written permission.
