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Boise School District settles transgender bathroom lawsuit

A multipurpose restroom in Washington, D.C. A new bill in Idaho would ban trans people from using bathrooms aligning with their gender identity in both government buildings and private businesses.
Ted Eytan
/
Flickr
A multipurpose restroom in Washington, D.C. A new bill in Idaho would ban trans people from using bathrooms aligning with their gender identity in both government buildings and private businesses.

Boise School District is paying $34,000 to a former female student who said she encountered a transgender girl in the women’s bathroom, according to the plaintiff’s lawyers.

Court records in the case are largely sealed from public view because the girl is a minor, though the parties met to hammer out a potential deal on Sept. 8.

The girl, who was 15 years old at the time and is only identified as Jane Doe in court documents, sued the school district after she said she heard “deep grunting” coming from a stall in the girls’ bathroom at Boise High School in 2025.

She also said she told administrators she had previously encountered who she believed to be the same transgender student in the restroom.

State lawmakers in 2023 passed legislation forcing public schools in Idaho to restrict access to restrooms based on a person’s birth sex, exempting single occupancy bathrooms.

If districts don’t enforce the law, students could sue for $5,000 per violation, plus uncapped damages for “psychological, emotional, and physical harm.”

The Idaho Family Policy Center, which wrote the law, took the girl’s case to court.

Boise School District’s decision to settle came after an Ada County judge rejected its motion to dismiss the lawsuit in late July.

Federal courts had temporarily halted Idaho’s law from being enforced when the girl had her bathroom encounter, though it’s now in full effect.

Caleb Pirc, the director of the Idaho Family Policy Center’s legal arm, said in a statement, “We will hold accountable any school district that chooses to violate the law—and we will continue to champion the safety, privacy, and dignity of students across Idaho.”

Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio

I cover politics and a bit of everything else for Boise State Public Radio. Outside of public meetings, you can find me fly fishing, making cool things out of leather or watching the Seattle Mariners' latest rebuilding season.

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