All women in Idaho are now at risk from the anti-trans bathroom law | Opinion

She was 18 years old when a restaurant server followed her into the bathroom, pounded on her stall door, and demanded she leave. The server refused to believe Gerika Murda was a woman, so Murda unzipped her baggy sweatshirt and stepped forward. Only after seeing her breasts in a tighter shirt did the server finally back down.

This is what gender surveillance looks like in practice. It’s where you, your friend, your daughter or your wife must undress to “prove” their womanhood in a public restroom. For over a decade, conservative lawmakers have justified trans bathroom bans as protection for women and girls, despite the overwhelming lack of evidence that transgender people pose any danger to women, and the fact that crimes in bathrooms — such as sexual assault or indecent exposure — are already crimes.

Just weeks ago, Idaho made using the “wrong” bathroom in a private business or government building a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. The math here is perplexing: Why is the Idaho Legislature focused on restricting the rights of the 0.64% of Idahoans who identify as transgender while 41% of Idaho households are struggling to pay for housing, childcare and food?

The answer is that it is easier for lawmakers prefer to make up solutions to problems we don’t have, like trans women committing violence in women’s bathrooms, rather than addressing the problems we do have, like the exorbitant prices of groceries, gas, child care, healthcare and rent. For a state that has a poverty rate of over 10%, Idaho lawmakers may be well-advised to focus on addressing the real issues their constituents face instead of passing a barrage of anti-trans legislation.

While attempts at controlling women’s bodies and how they act in public is nothing new, one must wonder how state legislators imagine they will enforce these bathroom bans. As anti-trans legislation increases in states around the country, cisgender women have been confronted in public restrooms for being too tall, having short hair or simply not looking feminine enough to satisfy a stranger’s expectations. When the law invites people to question who is “woman enough” to use a certain restroom, every woman becomes a potential target.

The real danger here is a culture of surveillance that forces all women to prove they belong in their own bodies.

The legal landscape around this topic has shifted dramatically since 2016, when North Carolina became the first state to attempt restricting transgender bathroom access. This effort faced backlash from the public, and ultimately failed. But in 2019, the anti-trans agenda gained popularity amongst conservative lawmakers once again, this time focused on school sports. Idaho passed the first sports ban bill in 2020, reviving state lawmakers’ interest in bathroom-focused legislation and other legislation attacking trans people.

This February, Kansas ripped a page out of the anti-abortion playbook by employing vigilante bounty schemes, allowing any private individual to sue someone they believe violated the state’s bathroom ban. That means a woman confronted in a restaurant restroom for looking too masculine, being too tall, or wearing the wrong clothes could be taken to court to prove her gender. Those who “fail” this gender test twice could face a fine of more than $1,000, while those who commit a third or subsequent violation will be charged with a class B misdemeanor.

These humiliation rituals are not just playing out in bathrooms and changing rooms. From the Olympics to school sports, women and girls are being subjected to gender verification through invasive and traumatic medical examinations, or are subjected to investigations and bullying after being falsely accused of being trans.

Women already face a barrage of scrutiny and harassment in public spaces. Under anti-trans policies, all women, including cisgender women, face extra barriers and fall victim to more gender policing than their male counterparts. Until lawmakers care more about protecting women than policing them, these bathroom bans endanger us all.

Brian Dittmeier is director of LGBTQI equality at the National Women’s Law Center. Brandalyn Bickner is media manager for LGBTQI equality at the National Women’s Law Center.