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(LifeSiteNews) — An Idaho law requiring public schools to limit bathroom access to actual members of the designated sex can be enforced in a matter of days, thanks to U.S. District Judge David Nye lifting a temporary restraining order that he imposed in August.
SB 1100, signed in March by Republican Gov. Brad Little, requires “[e]very public school restroom or changing facility accessible by multiple persons at the same time [to] be designated for use by male persons only or female persons only and used only by members of that sex.” Schools may make “reasonable accommodations” for individuals suffering from gender dysphoria, as long as they do not allow members of one sex in the presence of the other.
It also empowers students to sue a school that gave someone “permission to use facilities of the opposite sex” or “failed to take reasonable steps to prohibit that person from using facilities of the opposite sex.”
The law was originally slated to take effect in July, but the LGBT activist law group Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit alleging it was discriminatory, prompting Nye to temporarily halt its enforcement the following month.
Now, however, the Idaho Statesman reports that Nye has opted to let the block expire, determining SB 1100 is based on biological sex, not “gender identity,” and “substantially related to the government’s important interest in protecting the privacy and safety of students.” The injunction will officially expire in November.
“The court must stay within its lane,” the judge determined. “Its duty is to interpret the law; it is not a policy-making body.”
At the same time, Nye rejected the state’s request to dismiss Lambda’s case completely, meaning legal arguments on the law’s merits will continue.
“We’re thrilled that the court affirmed what we’ve been saying all along—that Senate Bill 1100 is substantially related to the important government interest in protecting the privacy rights of all public school students,” reacted Blaine Conzatti of the Idaho Family Policy Center, which drafted the law. “After all, every child deserves safety in vulnerable places like school bathrooms, changing rooms, and showers.”
Critics warn that forcing girls to share intimate facilities such as bathrooms, showers, and changing areas with members of the opposite sex violates their privacy rights, subjects them to needless emotional stress, and gives potential male predators a viable pretext to enter female bathrooms or lockers by simply claiming transgender status.
In Loudoun County, Virginia, former superintendent Scott Ziegler is currently facing charges for allegedly covering up the rape of a female student by a “transgender” classmate in a girls bathroom due to its damaging implications for the LGBT movement. Last month, he was convicted of “using his official position to retaliate against someone for exercising their rights” by firing a teacher who testified about the situation before a grand jury.