Protesters decry Idaho’s transgender ‘bathroom bill’ at No Kings rally

As thousands rallied at the Idaho Capitol for Saturday’s No Kings protest, Zoey Wagner couldn’t shake what had happened inside a day before.

Set against the waning days of Idaho’s legislative session, Boise’s installment of the nationwide rally brought state issues to the fore. For Wagner, few were as significant as Idaho’s latest “bathroom bill,” which would criminalize using a restroom that doesn’t match the sex someone was assigned at birth.

That bill passed the Republican-dominated Senate on Friday, and will now head to Gov. Brad Little’s desk. Less than 24 hours later, Wagner was on the Capitol steps, waving the blue, pink and white of a transgender pride flag before more than 5,000 protesters.

While billed as a protest against President Donald Trump, demonstrators and speakers focused their attention on the statewide lawmakers who have for months worked to enshrine aspects of his agenda in state law. That has meant bills on tax reform, immigration and, recently, transgender and LBGTQ+ expression.

Friday afternoon the Senate passed House Bill 752, which makes it a misdemeanor to “knowingly and willfully” use a bathroom or changing room that does not match your sex at birth. The first offense carries a maximum of a year in county jail, according to the bill. A second offense carries a felony and up to five years in prison.

“I want those in power to know they’re trampling on our rights,” Wagner said. “And just because they’re using freedom of religion to do it doesn’t make it right.”

Wagner, who lives in a purple district in West Boise, has been following the Legislature since she interned there in 2019.

“It keeps getting worse,” she said. “And this year the masks came off.”

Sen. Ben Toews, R-Couer d’Alene, who sponsored the bill, said the Legislature has a duty to “protect the bodily privacy and safety of Idaho citizens,” the Statesman reported on Friday.

“House Bill 752 provides a clear, proactive tool to secure sex-separated private spaces in our state, while accommodating common-sense realities,” he told lawmakers.

Supporters say the bill is necessary to protect women and girls from men.

“Trans women aren’t women,” said Sen. Josh Kohl, R-Twin Falls, the Statesman reported. “They’re men and need to be treated as such.”

Opponents, including Wagner, say it’s unnecessary and cruel. The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho previously called the new bathroom bill “one of the most extreme anti-trans bills in the country.”

Maxine Durand is a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. In a Saturday speech, she called the Legislature’s focus on the LGBTQ+ community — which also includes an effort to pull the Pride Flag from Boise City Hall — something else: a smokescreen.

“I don’t want to be talking about bathroom bills,” she said. “I want to be talking about ‘Medicare for All.’ I want to be talking about raising Idaho’s minimum wage. … Instead, I have to argue with old men about where I get to pee.”

Wagner noted that peeing in public likely carries less jail time than using the bathroom that fits her gender.

“Every year I think they’re at the bottom of the barrel,” she said, “and every year it keeps getting worse.”

Wagner said the line between D.C. and the statehouse is clear.

“A lot of the politicians pull (an idea) straight from the Trump administration and push it locally,” she said.

“Our constitution is founded on the principle that no matter who you are, you get to be who you want to be,” she added. “The rest of us have rights, too.”

To Terri Pickens, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, those rights were the point of Saturday’s protest.

“If we don’t stand on our rights, they will be taken away,” she said on the Capitol steps. “Somewhere along the way, the politicians in this building stopped listening. There are 10,000 people here today to remind them: We are back.”

On Tuesday, the site of the No Kings Rally will host the Transgender Day of Visibility. Little will likely have the so-called bathroom bill on his desk. Several speakers on Saturday urged him not to sign it, and asked protesters to make their opposition heard.

“One message is a comment,” Democratic Senate candidate David Roth said. “One hundred, maybe a headline. One thousand? It’s a turning point.”

Said Durand: “To every transgender Idahoan out there: Be yourself, or die dreaming.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2026 at 5:04 PM.