Idaho’s governor signed a bill into law on Tuesday that prohibits transgender individuals from using bathrooms and changing rooms that align with their gender identity.

The bill applies to those who enter such spaces “knowingly and willfully.” First offenses carry a misdemeanor penalty of up to one year in prison. Repeat violations, including those that occurred in other states with similar laws, trigger felony charges with a maximum sentence of five years.

Bill opponents condemned it as part of a continuous attack on transgender individuals. ACLU of Idaho legal director Paul Carlos Sorwick called it part of “an overall campaign” that targets transgender individuals. State Sen. Ron Taylor (D) said some constituents told him they would leave Idaho, fearing their children would be arrested. Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates of Idaho called the bill one of “the most extreme anti-transgender bathroom ban in the nation.” Nikson Mathews, Idaho Democratic Queer Caucus chair, said Idaho legislators have shifted “from refusing to protect [LGBTQ+ individuals] to actively targeting us.”

This is the latest in anti-transgender legislation out of Idaho. In 2023, state Senate Bill 1100 restricted all bathrooms and changing rooms in public K-12 schools to sex assigned at birth. It also permitted students to recover up to $5,000 for each time a transgender student entered a restroom that did not align with their biological sex. The ACLU reported that the law pushed trans-students into separate, “private” facilities.

In 2025, Idaho House Bill 264 expanded such coverage to bathrooms and sleeping quarters in various public institutions. Namely, these include correctional facilities, domestic violence shelters, juvenile correctional centers, and state universities.

In 2025, the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute found no evidence that transgender restroom access increases violent victimization of strangers. A 2013 Williams Institute study found that transgender people face significant risks in gender-segregated facilities. Among respondents, 68 percent reported verbal harassment and nine percent reported physical assault. ACLU of Idaho argued the new law forces transgender individuals to choose between entering unsafe spaces or risking criminal charges.

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