The Idaho House quickly passed a bill Monday that would make it a crime for transgender people to use a restroom, locker room or shower facility that doesn’t match their sex at birth.
House Bill 752 would apply to both government and private businesses. Anyone caught knowingly violating the bill would be charged with a misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for a second incident within five years.
If convicted, sentences for those crimes would be up to a year in a county jail or a prison sentence of up to five years respectively.
Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R-Idaho Falls) said society never used to bat an eye at keeping bathrooms separated by sex.
“I do not understand why we seem to all of a sudden have a problem with discerning who is who and where we each should be,” Ehardt said.
Rep. Dale Hawkins (R-Fernwood) agreed.
“If someone followed my daughter into a shower room, my family would have to come visit me somewhere because I wouldn’t be waiting for police,” Hawkins said.
State lawmakers in recent years have increasingly restricted access to sex-segregated bathrooms, including at university dorm facilities, domestic violence shelters and prisons.
Rep. Clay Handy (R-Burley), one of the few Republicans to oppose the bill, said allowing transgender people to use the bathroom isn’t a problem.
“I’ve seen people in every way shape or form all over the world going to the bathroom and, to tell you the truth, I don’t know if very many people are sexually aroused by watching someone go to the bathroom,” Handy said.
House lawmakers easily passed the measure, which now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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