(LifeSiteNews) — Idaho may enforce a law requiring public schools to limit bathroom access to actual members of the designated sex, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho has ruled.
SB 1100, signed in 2023 by Republican Gov. Brad Little, requires “[e]very public school restroom or changing facility accessible by multiple persons at the same time [to] be designated for use by male persons only or female persons only and used only by members of that sex.” Schools may make “reasonable accommodations” for individuals suffering from gender dysphoria, as long as they do not allow members of one sex in the presence of the other.
It also empowers students to sue a school that gave someone “permission to use facilities of the opposite sex” or “failed to take reasonable steps to prohibit that person from using facilities of the opposite sex.”
The law was originally slated to take effect in July of that year, but the LGBT activist law group Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit against it, prompting U.S. District Judge David Nye to temporarily halt its enforcement the following month. Nye eventually let that block expire, but litigation has continued ever since.
On August 7, the court rejected the latest bid to enjoin the law, finding that the latest plaintiff, the Boise High School Sexuality and Gender Alliance, “has failed to meet its burden to obtain preliminary injunctive relief because it is unlikely to succeed on its claims since the State has outlined a legitimate governmental interest—privacy—related to the action it took in passing S.B. 1100.”
“Separating restrooms by biological sex has been common for centuries … And for good reason—there are biological differences between men and women,” the court explained. “Those biological differences are deserving of privacy and S.B. 1100’s segregation of restrooms based on sex is related to that interest.”
As referenced in the ruling, a final judgment on the merits of the case is still pending, although Idaho may continue to implement the law unless and until it is struck down, which is not expected.
“Idaho’s law reflects biological reality, protecting all students’ privacy and safety in school restrooms, showers, locker rooms, and other private spaces,” responded Idaho Republican Attorney General Raúl Labrador. “This is yet another victory for commonsense and the dignity of women and girls against activists seeking to push a harmful agenda. We applaud the court’s decision to allow our state to continue its job of preserving each student’s privacy, dignity, and safety and providing a quality education for Idaho’s children.”
Critics have long warned that forcing girls to share intimate facilities such as bathrooms, showers, and changing areas with members of the opposite sex violates their privacy rights, subjects them to needless emotional stress, and gives male predators a viable pretext to enter female bathrooms or lockers by simply claiming transgender status.
In Virginia, for example, former Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent Scott Ziegler set off a national firestorm for allegedly covering up the rape of a female student by a “transgender” classmate in a girls bathroom due to its damaging implications for the LGBT movement. He was convicted in 2023 of “using his official position to retaliate against someone for exercising their rights” by firing a teacher who testified about the situation before a grand jury, but prosecutors eventually dropped charges relating to allegedly lying about having no knowledge of the situation at a school board meeting.
