Washington CNN —
(LocalToday) Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed legislation this week banning transgender students in the state from using public school bathrooms that do not match their birth-assigned gender.
Senate Bill 1100, which goes into effect July 1, requires public schools to provide separate men’s and women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, locker areas, and overnight accommodation for students in the state. The restrictions do not apply to individual toilets.
“Requiring students to share restrooms and locker rooms with members of the opposite biological sex creates potential embarrassment, shame and psychological harm for students,” the bill reads.
According to the law, students can take legal action against the schools for encountering persons of the opposite sex using gender-sensitive facilities if the schools have given those persons permission to use the facilities or have failed to take “reasonable steps”. take action to prevent the person from using these facilities.
Students who are successful in their private lawsuits will receive $5,000 from the public school systems for each time they have seen “a person of the opposite sex” in those gender-specific facilities or dormitories, and may seek financial compensation from the schools for psychological, receive emotional or physical harm.
Democratic state senator Rick Just told CNN on Saturday that he voted against the bill primarily because it allows people to file private lawsuits against school systems. “I don’t think it’s helpful to encourage citizens to seek compensation if they feel even the slightest bit offended,” he told CNN in an email.
Little did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill on Saturday.
After the law passed, the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the US, slammed Little, saying, “LGBTQ+ people in Idaho deserve the opportunity to live their lives with dignity and respect.”
“Unfortunately, the bills Gov. Little is signing into law will make life more difficult for LGBTQ+ people across the state,” Cathryn Oakley, the group’s legislative director and lead attorney, said in a statement. “These bills will do nothing but further alienate and stigmatize those who are already on the fringes of life in this state.”
The Human Rights Campaign said that so far in 2023 there have been more “bathroom bills” nationwide than in any previous year.
Legislation in Idaho follows similar bills that Republican governors in Arkansas and Iowa signed into law last week.
On Tuesday, Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation barring transgender people from using restrooms that don’t match the gender listed on their birth certificates. And in Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed legislation banning transgender people from using school bathrooms who don’t match their birth-assigned gender.
Transgender Americans make up a tiny fraction of children in the US — the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that fewer than 2% of high school students identify as transgender.
