Trans-identifying Boise State students challenge law keeping men out of women's bathrooms
Two transgender-identifying students at Boise State filed a lawsuit against a state law requiring universities to maintain single-sex restrooms.
House Bill 264 became law in April to protect women in women-only spaces.
Transgender-identifying students from Boise State University in Idaho claim in a lawsuit filed in federal court on Friday that a state law requiring universities to maintain single-sex restrooms violates their right to equal protection.
House Bill 264 became law in April to protect women in women-only spaces. While the law has a broad effect across state institutions, the students’ lawsuit challenges requirements for public colleges and universities.
The law grants “reasonable accommodations” for persons who are unwilling to use facilities that correspond to their sex.
However, the law prohibits accommodations for “access to a restroom, changing facility, or sleeping quarters that is designated for use by members of the opposite sex while persons of the opposite sex are present or could be present.”
The lawsuit says that the measure discriminates based on gender identity and seeks an injunction before the school year begins on Aug. 25.
“HB 264, if it remains in effect at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, will prohibit BSU and U of I from allowing plaintiffs to continue using restrooms that align with their gender identities and how they are perceived on campus,” the lawsuit says, according to Idaho Education News.
The two students—a man who identifies as a woman and a woman who identifies as a man — have not publicly revealed themselves as identifying as transgender.
“It would be impossible for me to use the women’s restrooms, as I appear and sound male,” one student said. “I believe it would put me at risk for harassment and violence to enter a restroom designated for females.”
The dispute highlights opposing interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
Proponents of the state’s bathroom law argue that if men can use a women’s facility, such as a bathroom or locker room, any woman using the facility loses her right to sex-based protections.
Transgender advocates, who include the two unnamed Boise State students, say that equal protection prohibits exclusion based on gender identity.
President Trump changed federal policy on Title IX in January, rejecting the Biden administration’s inclusion of “gender identity” under the law.
“The Biden Administration’s failed attempt to rewrite Title IX was an unlawful abuse of regulatory power and an egregious slight to women and girls,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a press release at the time.
“Under the Trump Administration, the Education Department will champion equal opportunity for all Americans, including women and girls, by protecting their right to safe and separate facilities and activities in schools, colleges, and universities,” he continued.
Campus Reform contacted Boise State University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
