Idaho's Transgender Bathroom Ban to Take Effect After Judge's Ruling

Source: The Advocate

Idaho's Transgender Bathroom Ban to Take Effect After Judge's Ruling

The law will take effect next month.

BY DONALD PADGETT
OCTOBER 16 2023 3:36 PM EST

A federal judge on Thursday refused to extend his stay on an Idaho law denying trans and gender-nonconforming K-12 students from using multi-occupancy bathrooms, locker rooms, and sleeping facilities aligned with their gender identity.

The law, S.B. 1100, requires schools and districts to base usage of such facilities based upon a student’s biological sex rather than gender and had been challenged by an anonymous 12-year-old transgender girl, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, and a student support group. The law also allows students to sue schools for up to $5,000 for every violation. The law will now take effect next month.

Chief U.S. District Judge David Nye issued a stay on the law in August to better examine the case after both sides provided more evidence to support their claims. On Thursday, Nye declined to extend the stay beyond an additional 21 days, and only then to provide schools and districts the time to ensure their facilities comply with the new law. He found the plaintiffs had failed to provide enough evidence to suggest their case would win at trial.

“For years, transgender students have been able to use restrooms consistent with their gender at many schools across Idaho, without causing harm to anyone else,” “This law was always a solution in search of a problem,” Peter Renn, senior counsel for Lambda Legal who argued the case, said in an emailed statement reported by the Idaho Capital Sun. “The vast majority of courts ruling on similar discriminatory laws have struck them down, and the court’s decision here is an outlier that fails to respect the equal dignity of transgender students.”

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Read more: https://www.advocate.com/law/idaho-transgender-bathroom-ban-ruling