October 1, 2026
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it a crime for people who identify as transgender to use the bathroom that does not match their biological sex — even inside privately owned businesses.
At least 19 states, including Idaho, already have laws barring people who identify as transgender from using bathrooms and changing rooms that do not align with their biological sex in schools and, in some cases, other public places.
But none of the others apply as broadly to private businesses as the Idaho bill, which covers any “place of public accommodation,” meaning any business or facility that serves the public. The state's Republican supermajority Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week, deciding whether to send it to Gov. Brad Little's desk.
If the law is passed, anyone who enters a public facility like a bathroom or locker room designated for the opposite sex could be sentenced to a year in jail for a misdemeanor first offense, or up to five years in prison for a felony second offense. That's a longer sentence than Idaho imposes for a first drunken driving conviction or for displaying offensive sexual material in public.
Protecting those spaces is a “matter of safety” and “decency,” Republican Sen. Ben Toews told a Senate committee last week.
“Private spaces such as restrooms, changing areas, and showers are sex-separated for a reason,” Toews said. “Individuals in these vulnerable settings have a reasonable expectation of privacy and security.”
The bill does carve out several exceptions. Athletic coaches, people responding to emergencies, people supervising inmates, custodians, and people helping children who need bathroom assistance get a pass. So does someone who is “in dire need” of a bathroom, if the bathroom they use is the only one that is reasonably available at the time.
Law enforcement groups, including the Idaho Fraternal Order of Police and the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association, oppose the bill, which they say would place officers in impossible positions, tasking them with visually determining someone's biological sex or their level of “dire need.” The Idaho Sheriff's Association asked lawmakers to require that people first ask any suspected violator to leave the bathroom before calling authorities, but lawmakers refused.
Nikson Matthews, who identifies as male and has a beard, told a panel of lawmakers last week that the bill would force her into the women's restroom, where her masculine appearance puts her at risk of aggression from people who think she's intruding.
“It creates a crime — but that is not based on conduct or harm,” Matthews said. “It is based on presence, and to justify that you have to accept that someone’s presence alone is traumatizing and harmful enough to criminalize.”
It could also make it difficult for people who identify as transgender to work, said Boise resident Laura Volgert.
“People might be able to hold it for an hour if they're at a restaurant for lunch or at a grocery store,” she told lawmakers during a committee hearing. “They can't be expected to hold it for a full eight-hour shift.”
Suzanne Tabert, a Sandpoint resident, said the bill is about “maintaining, clear, enforceable boundaries” so that women and children can feel safe.
“If we lose the ability to protect based on biological sex, we lose our most effective tool for preventing harassment, voyeurism, and other sex crimes before they occur,” she said.
She later continued, “This legislation is not about how an individual identifies, nor does it seek to target or malign the transgender community. Rather, it upholds a universal standard of privacy.”
Bathrooms are not the only place where lawmakers have been placing restrictions on people who identify as transgender in order to protect women and girls. At least 25 states bar biological males from some women's and girls’ sports competitions. And at least 27 states have laws restricting or banning so-called gender-transitioning treatment for minors.
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