March 27 (Reuters) – Idaho’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill on Friday to ban people in the state from using bathrooms or changing rooms that do not match the gender they were assigned at birth, in the latest restriction targeting transgender people in the United States.
The bill, expected to be signed into law by Republican Governor Brad Little, passed the state Senate 28-7 on Friday. It passed the Idaho House of Representatives last week.
Once law, it would make it a crime to enter a restroom or changing room designated for the opposite biological sex in government buildings and at restaurants, stores and other private businesses that have a public bathroom.
The first offense under the new rules, set to take effect in July, would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail, while a second offense within five years would be a felony, carrying up to a five-year prison sentence, according to the text of the bill.
Transgender people in the country have faced increasing limitations at the state and national levels, and those efforts have been bolstered since President Donald Trump returned to office last year. Trump has issued a series of executive actions targeting transgender rights and stated in a directive that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes: male and female.
The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the passage of Idaho’s bill and called on the governor to veto it.
“This bill’s proposed punishments for using public facilities are extreme and unnecessary … This is an unacceptable and discriminatory misuse of our criminal legal system,” the ACLU said in a statement.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Idaho is in a group of some 20 U.S. states with some form of bathroom access restrictions for transgender people, according to a tally by the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that advocates for transgender rights.
Idaho earlier passed a law allowing students to sue schools for $5,000 if they encounter a transgender student in a bathroom in violation of the law.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Rod Nickel)
