In a unanimous vote, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Thursday affirmed an Idaho law requiring all public school students to use only the restroom, showers and changing facilities that correspond to their biological sex. 

The law, Senate Bill 1100, went into effect on July 1, 2023, and also applies to overnight lodging during school-authorized activities. 

Before the bill was introduced, Idaho’s public school districts could adopt their own policies regarding students’ access to restrooms, with only about 25% allowing students to use facilities according to their gender identity. 

The new legislation caused an immediate uproar, with the controversy centering around 12-year-old Rebecca Roe, a transgender student in an Idaho public school who, along with Roe’s parents and an LGBTQ student organization called SAGA, challenged the bill in district court. 

They claimed that if Roe, who began social transitioning in the fifth grade, were excluded from the restroom and changing facilities consistent with Roe’s gender identity, it would imperil the student’s mental and physical health and “out” Roe to peers as being transgender, according to the background information presented in the opinion for Thursday’s ruling. The complaint was filed against State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield, the State Board of Education and the Boise School District.

SAGA argued that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, and their Fourth Amendment right to information privacy. The district court upheld the law, and the plaintiffs appealed to the 9th Circuit and won an injunction, which remained in effect during the 2023-24 school year.

But with Thursday’s decision, the 9th Circuit “reversed its prior order, dissolved the injunction that was in place, and allowed Idaho’s law to take effect,” according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented Critchfield. The new decision protects the privacy of boys and girls in K-12 public schools across Idaho while the case proceeds, ADF said.

“Idaho’s law protects every student’s dignity and worth by respecting their privacy and safety in locker rooms, showers, restrooms, and overnight stays,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, who argued the case before the 9th Circuit. “Girls and boys each deserve a private space to shower, undress, use the restroom and sleep, and they shouldn’t have to worry about sharing these spaces with a member of the opposite sex.”

Hawley continued: “Girls and boys are biologically different, and we agree with the court’s decision to protect young students’ privacy and dignity by upholding Idaho’s law that recognizes their differences and accommodates each unique student.”

Judge Morgan Christen in his opinion wrote that the court saw “no argument at this stage that [Idaho law’s] mandatory segregation of [showers and overnight stays] on the basis of ‘biological sex’ is not substantially related to the State’s interests in: (1) not exposing students to the unclothed bodies of students of the opposite sex; and (2) protecting students from having to expose their own unclothed bodies to students of the opposite sex.”

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