On Friday, the Idaho Senate passed the most extreme anti-transgender bathroom ban in the United States: a law that applies to both public buildings and private businesses and carries severe criminal penalties. A first offense would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail; a second offense within five years would be a felony carrying up to five years in state prison. But the penalties do not stop there. Under Idaho's persistent violator statute, a transgender person convicted of a fourth bathroom offense—their third felony—could face a mandatory minimum of five years and up to life in prison, immediately making Idaho the harshest state in the nation for criminalizing transgender people. Those who find themselves behind bars may then be subjected to additional brutality at the hands of a prison system that has been systematically denying transgender people their medication and placing trans women in male facilities. The bill passed 28-7, with one Republican voting against it, and it now heads to the Governor’s desk.
The bill, HB 752, states that "any person who knowingly and willfully enters a restroom or changing room in a government-owned building or a place of public accommodation designated for use by the opposite biological sex of such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor" punishable by up to one year in prison. A second offense within five years would be a felony carrying up to five years in state prison, and under Idaho's persistent violator statute, a fourth offense—the third felony—would carry a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of life. Notably, these provisions apply to private businesses, and the bill explicitly allows prior convictions under "a similar statute in another state, or any similar local ordinance" to count toward the escalation threshold—meaning a transgender person previously sanctioned under another state's bathroom ban could face felony charges on their first offense in Idaho.
The bill drew sharp criticism from a diverse range of opponents, unifying voices that typically do not share the same stance. ACLU Idaho focused on the extreme privacy violations and excessive penalties the bill would create, as well as the danger to transgender and cisgender people alike from weaponizing law enforcement against anyone who defies gender expectations. The Idaho Fraternal Order of Police also opposed the bill, with President Bryan Lovell warning that "in many circumstances, there is no clear or reasonable way for officers to make that determination without engaging in questioning or investigative actions that could be viewed as invasive and inappropriate." The Idaho Sheriffs' Association joined the opposition as well. Despite pleas from police, Bill sponsor Rep. Cornel Rasor refused to add a duty-to-depart amendment—a provision that exists in Florida's criminal bathroom ban and allows a person to avoid charges by leaving when asked—meaning a transgender person in Idaho could be arrested on the spot simply for being present.
If Governor Brad Little signs the bill into law, Idaho would become the fourth state with a major bathroom ban targeting transgender people through arrest or significant criminal or civil penalties. In Florida, where the offense is a misdemeanor carrying up to 60 days in jail, Marcy Rheintgen was arrested in March 2025 for washing her hands in a women's restroom at the state capitol. In Texas, where the bathroom ban took effect in December, four transgender women were detained at the state capitol and issued criminal trespass warnings banning them from the building for a year. And in Kansas, the state created a bounty hunter system allowing private citizens to sue transgender people encountered in a bathroom for $1,000. Idaho's bill goes further than all of them—the criminal offense is triggered by merely being present in the restroom, it applies to private businesses, and the penalties dwarf those in states that have already earned "do not travel" warnings on the Erin in the Morning trans legal risk assessment map.
Really good job of decompressing and returning to the matter to think it through more intentionally. I agree with you that we can't cede the word "Democratic" or democracy. Hell I use it all the time and advocate for a lot more of it! Like workplace democracy. It blows people's brains when they start thinking about electing their 'bosses' or managers. They literally never dreamed of the idea half the time because they're so dominated by capitalist logic of control and ownership. And yes, even bigoted people can be reached this way, and yes, that's an opportunity to show how they're not threatened by the targets of their bigotry but instead have so much in common with them than the actual oppressors--the ownership class. Working along side people who they hold bigoted animosity towards for a common goal forces them to reflect on that bigotry in a way they may never have done before, and social acceptable and even formal protection can and will come later. The method is the cure so to speak, but we can't skip the steps.
Just wanted to say thank you and compliment you for your thoughtful comment.
I appreciate that. I don't want to contribute to a culture where people feel nervous to share their thoughts, and in the past I've been critical of others doing the same thing I did, so I definitely feel like I was being a hypocrite.