Idaho lawmakers on Friday approved legislation to criminalize the use of bathrooms, locker rooms or changing rooms, even in private businesses, by people whose sex at birth does not match the facilities’ sign on the door.
Senators approved 28-7 what might be the nation’s most restrictive transgender bathroom bill Friday, after the Idaho House approved the ban last week. Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, is expected to sign it.
The legislation makes it a crime for a person of one “biological sex” to “knowingly and willfully” enter bathrooms, locker rooms or changing rooms “designated for the opposite” sex. Violating the law would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison. A second offense within five years would be a felony, carrying up to a five-year prison sentence.
Idaho and 20 other states already restrict transgender people from accessing bathrooms, with some laws applying only to elementary and secondary schools and others to all government buildings. Penalties vary — a law enacted earlier this year in Kansas allows private individuals who encounter transgender people using bathrooms that do not match their birth sex to sue for $1,000 in damages.
Idaho’s new law goes farther. It would apply to government buildings and “public accommodations,” including private businesses
During debate in the Idaho House last week, a bill sponsor, State Representative Cornel Rasor, said he proposed the bill at the request of constituents who were concerned about protecting women and girls from “discomfort and voyeurism escalation and assaults.”
The incident that prompted it came in October 2025 when officials at a YMCA in Sandpoint, Idaho, called 911 after a lifeguard saw a transgender woman in the women’s bathroom, only to have police tell them they could do nothing.
“It’s consistent with Idaho values. It’s consistent with the direction we’ve been going,” Mr. Rasor, a Republican from Idaho’s northern panhandle, said.
The few Democrats in the legislature disagreed.
“One thing my parents always taught me is that Idaho is a kind place, a friendly place,” said Senator Alison Rabe, a Democrat whose district includes Garden City and parts of Boise. “I don’t think this bill reflects that.”
In recent years, Idaho’s Republican supermajority has pushed the limits of conservative social policies, restricting abortion, public school conversations about racial or gender discrimination and the rights of transgender people.
This week, with their 2026 session drawing near a close, lawmakers voted to fine the state capital of Boise $2,000 a day if it does not stop flying a gay pride flag in front of city hall. And they were close to approving legislation that would force schools, medical professionals and child care providers to report children to their parents if they attempt to change their name or pronouns or use a bathroom other than the one that corresponds to their sex at birth, and to require parental consent for such behavior. Violators could face $100,000 civil fines.
Paul Carlos Southwick, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, said lawmakers were waging “an overall campaign purge the state of trans folks.”
The bathroom bill passed both chambers largely along party lines, though debate in both the House and Senate illustrated the tension within the Idaho Republican Party. A majority of Republicans, particularly harder-line conservatives elected in the past several cycles, said the ban was a needed step to protect women and children.
”This bill protects Idaho’s cultural decency,” said Senator Josh Kohl, a Republican from Twin Falls. “We don’t want to become like California or New York.
Still, several Republicans argued it went too far. State Representative Clay Handy, a Republican from the Magic Valley region of south central Idaho, said during the House debate that he had expected to hear testimony detailing “horror stories” about sexual predators in women’s bathrooms.
Instead, he said, lawmakers heard from people transitioning genders who were already confused about which restrooms to use. He said he worried lawmakers were “just trying to cast stones at transgender people.”
Senator Jim Guthrie, a Republican from southeastern Idaho and the only member of his party to vote against the bill in the Senate, said lawmakers were spending a great deal of time focused on “this space.”
“We’re ignoring the fact that these are people just like us,” he said. “They’re human, just like us. What are they supposed to do?”
Law enforcement leaders in Idaho worry about how they will enforce the ban. In written testimony, Idaho’s Fraternal Order of Police noted that the law would place police officers “in the difficult position of determining an individual’s biological sex” and wondered how they were supposed to do that.
Democratic opponents fretted that Idaho residents were being encouraged to police the appearance of people who use public restrooms.
Amy Harmon contributed reporting.
Anna Griffin is the Pacific Northwest bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Montana and Oregon.
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