Idaho Gov. Little signed SB 1100, barring transgender students from K-12 school facilities matching their gender identity

On March 22, 2023, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed Senate Bill 1100 into law as Session Law Chapter 120, adding a new chapter to Title 33 of the Idaho Code governing public-school facilities. The law requires every multi-occupancy restroom, changing facility, and overnight-lodging sleeping quarters in a K-12 public school to be designated for and used exclusively by one sex, which the statute defines by immutable chromosomal and reproductive anatomy at birth and explicitly separates from gender identity.

Schools must provide a written-request "reasonable accommodation" — such as access to a single-occupancy or faculty facility — but may not grant students access to facilities reserved for the opposite sex. The act creates a private civil cause of action allowing a student who encounters a person of the opposite sex in a covered facility to sue the school for at least $5,000 in statutory damages per occurrence plus attorney's fees, and it preempts any contrary local ordinance. The law took effect on July 1, 2023.

Senate Bill 1100 passed the Idaho Senate 28-7 and cleared the House before enrollment, one of a series of Idaho measures restricting transgender residents' access to sex-designated spaces.

Updates

2023-10-13 — Federal judge denied preliminary injunction [4]

U.S. District Judge David Nye denied a preliminary injunction blocking SB 1100, finding the plaintiffs unlikely to succeed on their equal protection, Title IX, and privacy claims, and extended the existing temporary restraining order 21 days to let schools prepare before the law took effect.

2023-10-26 — Ninth Circuit blocked enforcement pending appeal [5]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted an injunction pending appeal in Roe v. Critchfield, temporarily barring enforcement of SB 1100 while the appeal proceeded.

2025-03-20 — Ninth Circuit affirmed law could be enforced [6]

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of a preliminary injunction, rejecting the plaintiffs' equal protection, Title IX, and privacy arguments and allowing Idaho to continue enforcing SB 1100 while the underlying case continued.

2026-05-21 — Plaintiffs dropped the lawsuit [7]

The remaining plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the case without prejudice after one had graduated and another had died; Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador said the law "is fully in effect and will remain so."