Idaho Legislature passes bill to force teachers, doctors to out transgender minors to their parents

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — The Idaho Senate widely passed a bill Monday that would require teachers and doctors to out transgender minors to their parents, or face lawsuits, advancing the bill to the governor. 

House Bill 822 would require schools, health care providers and child care providers to notify parents within three days after the entities receive “any request by the minor student to participate in or facilitate the social transition of the minor student.” 

That would include: Using a different name than their legal name, including a nickname; using pronouns or titles that don’t align with their sex assigned at birth; using restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, or overnight lodging that are meant to be used by another sex; and playing on a sports team of another sex.

Entities would be banned from assisting a minor’s social transition efforts without written consent from their parent. 

The attorney general could seek up to $100,000 in civil fines for entities that violate the bill. 

The bill passed the Legislature widely, with support from all but three Republican lawmakers who were present for the votes.

The Senate passed the bill Monday on a near party-line 27-8 vote, with only two Republicans joining the Senate’s six Democrats to oppose it. The House widely passed the bill earlier this month, with the backing of all but one House Republicans who were present. 

Major medical groups say gender-affirming care is medically necessary and safe. Some European nations are tightening standards for gender affirming-care. 

The bill allows parents to sue health care providers, schools and child care providers that violate the bill.

In a statement, the ACLU of Idaho called the bill “extreme and unconstitutional.”

“This bill would endanger LGBTQ+ youth, further isolate trans folks, and put all Idaho families at risk of government scrutiny over how their kids look or act,” ACLU of Idaho communications manager Taylor Munson said. 

Bill closes a loophole in Legislature’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, lawmaker says

The bill was brought by Rep. Bruce Skaug, a Nampa Republican lawmaker who led efforts to criminalize gender-affirming care for all minors in Idaho and expanded the ban to taxpayer funds, which prevented Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care and prompted an eastern Idaho clinic to halt offering gender-affirming care. 

In the Senate’s debate, Sen. Ben Toews, a Coeur d’Alene Republican cosponsoring the bill, said the bill closes a loophole for social transitions in the state’s law that outlaws gender affirming care for minors. 

“A loophole was left in the law, and it did not mention social transitions, the process by which vulnerable children are led into the pipeline,” Toews said. “This bill is before us today to close that loophole. This legislation upholds parental rights through transparency.”

Sen. James Ruchti, a Pocatello Democrat, recounted a story — featured in his local newspaper, the Idaho State Journal — about a couple who was arrested after allegedly severely beating a 7-year-old girl.

“When we write these statutes, we’re writing them for all families,” Ruchti told senators. “And so when nurses, when doctors, when educators tell us ‘We need a little room to be able to handle these situations carefully …  it means that we have to possibly go to a family like this and tell them something that that family may not be in a great place to hear.’”

Dr. Jessica Rolynn, a doctor who practices gender-affirming care in eastern Idaho, told the Idaho Capital Sun that the bill “removes the professional judgement that allows clinicians and educators to keep children safe.”

“Not every home is safe. Some youth face rejection, emotional harm, or even homelessness when sensitive information is revealed without careful planning,” Rolynn said. “This bill contains no mechanism for safety assessment and no allowance for clinical discretion.”

Sen. Jim Guthrie, a Republican from McCammon, was one of two Senate Republicans to vote against the bill. He also opposed the Legislature’s bill, passed last week, that criminalizes transgender people entering bathrooms that align with their gender identity. 

“I think we end up getting into a good place on some of this stuff and appropriately so, and then we decide we’ve got to push it just a little bit further,” Guthrie said. “… I think parents, for the most part, they already know. Let’s give them more credit than what we’re giving them.”

Sen. Jim Woodward, a Sagle Republican, also voted against the bill. He said he supports the notion that teachers should keep parents informed, but he doesn’t support the bill’s punitive measures, including the up to $100,000 fine.

Senate Republicans didn’t stop Democrats from entering a six-page report with a list of concerns about the bill into the Senate’s official daily record. When House Democrats tried a similar move earlier this month, House Republicans blocked the report. 

The House concurred with the Senate’s amendment later Monday.

The governor has five days, once a bill is transmitted to his desk, to decide on it. He has three options: Sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature.