Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) signed “the most extreme anti-transgender bathroom ban in the nation” on Thursday, despite opposition from statewide police organizations — the law takes effect July 1. As he signed the law, over 100 people commemorated the Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) on the steps of the state capitol.

The law makes it illegal for anyone to “knowingly and willfully” use a sex-segregated restroom that doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth; it applies to government-owned buildings and places of public accommodation (that is, any space or business open to the general public).

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A first offense is a misdemeanor punishable with up to one year in prison, a second offense within five years is a felony punishable with up to five years in prison, and a fourth offense triggers the state’s persistent violator statute and, thus, punishments up to life in prison.

Trans independent journalist Erin Reed noted that the state’s count of offenses will include any prior convictions for violating other states’ anti-trans restroom laws; as such, an offender could face enhanced penalties in Idaho if they violated a similar law elsewhere.

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While Gov. Little signed the law, over 100 people attended a TDOV event in front of the Capitol, The Idaho Statesman reported. There, a gender-queer folk singer played music, a drag artist performed, and several activists spoke as some attendees held protest signs, including one that said, “Stay out of my stall.”

Both the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association and the Idaho Fraternal Order of Police opposed the law, Reed previously reported, with the latter organization’s President Bryan Lovell warning that “there is no clear or reasonable way” for police officers to enforce the law “without engaging in questioning or investigative actions that could be viewed as invasive and inappropriate.”

Both police organizations reportedly urged lawmakers to include a “duty to depart” provision in the bill, which would have stopped law enforcement officials from arresting individuals who leave single-sex spaces upon request.

Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates of Idaho and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Idaho both similarly referred to the law as “the most extreme anti-transgender bathroom ban in the nation.”

Nonetheless, the Republican-dominated state legislature passed it with a House vote of 54-15 and a Senate vote of 28-7 — Democrats and one Republican senator opposed it.

The law is the fourth in the U.S. to criminalize trans people’s use of bathrooms and other sex segregated spaces that don’t match the sex they were assigned at birth — similar laws have been enacted in Florida, Kansas, and Utah.

Supporters of the law transphobically say that it is necessary to protect the safety and privacy of women and children. The law’s sponsor, state Sen. Ben Toews (R), said the law will “[deal] with sexual predators,” even though numerous laws already criminalize sexual assaults in bathrooms.

Toews’s transphobic assertion is untrue. There is no evidence that violent victimization by strangers increased in restrooms located within states and cities with trans-inclusive restroom policies, the Williams Institute reported in 2025. In fact, numerous reports indicate that trans people are far more likely than cisgender people to suffer harassment and violence in public restrooms, partly as a result of political rhetoric that vilifies them as sexual predators.

Opponents say the law targets trans people for harassment and violence (and note that similar restroom policies have resulted in the increased harassment of cisgender women).

Wendy Weber, a transgender blogger, wondered after the law’s passage whether a trans woman in Boise could make it through an eight-hour shift without using the restroom at work, since trans employees in the state may work in businesses where they’re forced to use sex-segregated facilities open to the public.

Holding one’s bodily waste to avoid restrooms can result in increased urinary tract infections, constipation, the presence of blood in the urine, and even kidney disease, according to the American Medical Association. Exclusionary bathroom policies can also contribute to increased anxiety, depression, and suicidality amongst trans individuals, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“A lot of people will just say, ‘Well, you could just use the bathroom of your sex assigned at birth.’ If you’re a trans person, you often don’t look anything like your sex assigned at birth anymore,” trans civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo explained on a recent episode of On the Media.

“For trans women, if you go and use the men’s restroom, that puts you at extreme risk of sexual assault, harassment, even violent assault,” she continued. “Ultimately, what that means for trans people is they can’t participate in society because you can only hold going to the bathroom for so long.”

State Sen. Jim Guthrie, the lone state Republican who voted against the law, told the Associated Press, “If [a trans woman goes] in the bathroom of their biological sex, they’re going to upset a lot of people and freak people out. If they go in the bathroom that is consistent with their looks — they are knowingly and willingly going into the bathroom — that is breaking the law.”

He added, “They’re human beings just like us, and what are they supposed to do?”

The ACLU of Idaho condemned the law, saying it “does nothing to address real criminal acts, such as sexual assault or voyeurism, and disregards concerns from law enforcement about the burden enforcement would place on local resources.”

The civil rights organization noted that the law “risks the privacy and dignity of every single Idahoan, as cisgender people who do not conform to rigid gender norms could face accusations, harassment, and arrest for using a public restroom.”

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