Gov. Brad Little (R) has signed two controversial bills that roll back transgender rights and which have prompted threats of lawsuits.
Idaho is one of the first states to outright ban the participation of transgender girls and women on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Supporters say it’s necessary to maintain a level playing field, though they acknowledged there haven’t been any problems to crop up in the state.
It also bucks the trend of states and organizations becoming more accepting of transgender athletes. The Idaho High School Activities Association, which oversees sports at public schools, currently allows transgender females to play on sex-segregated sports teams as long as they've undergone at least one year of hormone therapy.
The second bill signed by Gov. Little would ban transgender people from changing the sex on their birth certificates – a policy that a federal court ruled unconstitutional in Idaho two years ago.
Both proposals are set to take effect July 1, 2020.
Earlier this year, Little deflected questions about whether he’d veto the bills, which critics say are discriminatory.
“You know, I’m not a big discrimination guy,” he said in February.
He said he hadn’t seen the constitutional analyses at the time, either.
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office wrote one for each bill, saying both would be hard to defend and would be very costly for state taxpayers.
Five of Idaho’s biggest companies wrote letters to state lawmakers and the governor. HP, Micron, Chobani, Clif Bar and Idaho National Laboratory told them that considering these bills and passing them reinforces the state’s reputation as unwelcoming toward minorities and will be bad for business.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm that is currently suing high school sports officials in Connecticut create a similar ban, applauded the move. "When we ignore biological reality, female athletes lose medals, podium spots, public recognition, and opportunities to compete," said Kristen Waggoner, one of the group's senior vice presidents.
Lambda Legal, the group that successfully sued Idaho to allow transgender people to change the sex on their birth certificate, issued a statement Monday night.
“Idaho has deliberately set itself on a collision course with federal courts,” said Peter Renn, an attorney who worked on the original case three years ago. “It is in open rebellion against the rule of law.”
The ACLU of Idaho said it would see the governor in court.
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