It is a sad time for the transgender community and their allies in the state of Idaho.
A transphobic 2023 bathroom bill is now in permanent effect after a lawsuit against it has been dropped following the suicide of one of its plaintiffs.
Attorneys for the Sexuality and Gender Alliance, a student group at Boise High School, and the state agreed to dismiss the lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday May 21, following the death of one plaintiff back in January and the high-school graduation of another, per Idaho Education News.
The deceased plaintiff, who took their own life back in January, has been identified in court documents only as Jane Doe.
Doe spoke about her fear of being outed as trans by having to access a single-sex restroom on campus in a court filing, saying, “It is scary having to look around before to see if anyone will see me going into the single-user restroom, as I worry about people gossiping and speculating about me being transgender. I don’t want people to know I am transgender without my consent—even students who might be friendly. For me, it is not a part of myself I talk about or that I feel is the most important part of my identity.”
Several lawsuits against the bathroom ban were currently pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. District Court of Idaho.
Now in permanent effect in the state of Idaho, Senate Bill 1100 states that all students must use bathrooms and changing facilities consistent with their gender assigned at birth. Furthermore, the bill permits any student the right to sue their school if they are to encounter a transgender person in a public restroom or changing facility for a minimum fine of $5,000, as reported by Boise State Public Radio.
“From the district court to the Ninth Circuit, we defended Idaho’s right to protect students’ privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms,” Attorney General Raúl Labrador stated in a recent press release. “Idaho families can be confident that this law is fully in effect and will remain so.”
In their suit, the plaintiffs and the Sexuality and Gender Alliance argued that the law violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection rights clause which states “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” They also argued that the law violated Title IX, the federal statute prohibiting sex-based discrimination.
Per SAGA’s argument, Title IX states verbatim “no person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any academic, extracurricular, research, occupational training, or other education program or activity operated by a recipient which receives … Federal financial assistance.”
During the time that Senate Bill 1100 was held up in court, Idaho republicans passed a separate anti-trans bathroom bill, considered one of the most extreme in the nation.
In March 2026, the state of Idaho passed House Bill 752 into law. The law makes it a crime for transgender people to use public accommodations that match their preferred gender identity in any government-owned building or public place.
Only three other states—Florida, Kansas, and Utah—treat the action of a transgender individual using a facility assigned to their preferred gender as a criminal offense, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
In a recent filing, U.S. District Court Judge David Nye wrote that the court “expresses its sincerest sympathies to Jane Doe’s family.” False platitudes to the ears of this author.
Photo Courtesy of Unsplash
