As Washington Expands Rights, Idaho Escalates Attacks on LGBTQ+ People
By Pro-Choice Washington Political Manager Paul Dillon
The Idaho Legislature is not known for accessibility.
After navigating snowy roads to Boise, advocates are lucky to secure a meeting with a legislator. And sometimes they face hostility simply for participating in democracy. Visitors can’t wear shirts with logos in the gallery. Legislative office doors are locked.
Yet inside, lawmakers make sweeping decisions that affect every Idahoan — and those decisions ripple across state lines.
This legislative session reveals a stark contrast between Idaho and Washington. Since the fall of Roe, Washington has worked to strengthen reproductive freedom and pass Shield Laws to protect patients, providers, and LGBTQ+ communities.
Idaho, by contrast, has escalated attacks on bodily autonomy and LGBTQ+ Idahoans.
In the 2026 session alone, Idaho lawmakers introduced:
- H.B. 607, banning trans people from using restrooms and changing rooms aligned with their gender identity in government buildings and public businesses
- H.B. 606, criminalizing trans people for using facilities that match their gender identity
- H.B. 516, a “Don’t Say Gay” bill prohibiting LGBTQ+ instruction in public schools
- H.B. 561, banning the Pride flag from city and county government buildings
- H.B. 557, blocking local LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections in cities like Boise, Pocatello, Sandpoint, and Moscow
Lawmakers recently filed a joint memorial urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality.
Taken together, these bills police public spaces, censor speech, override local control, and target LGBTQ+ people and families.
As Nikson Mathew, chair of the Idaho Democratic Queer Caucus, said:
“These bills … police public spaces, censor speech, override local control, take away parental rights, restrict privacy and target LGBTQ+ people and families… I just want to say to every queer and trans Idahoan: We deserve safety, we deserve joy and love, and to exist without our humanity being debated every legislative session.”
These efforts are coordinated and relentless. They are designed to wear people down.
But Idahoans are fighting back.
Thanks to the organizing leadership of Idahoans United for Women and Families, the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act is on track to qualify for the November 2026 ballot. If passed, it would overturn one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. Polling shows that most Idahoans believe the government should stay out of private medical decisions.
This moment is not just about stopping bad bills. It is about building long-term power to secure constitutional protections for reproductive freedom and LGBTQ+ rights.
And for those of us living and working in Spokane, this is personal. Our communities are deeply interconnected. Friends, family members, and coworkers live just 30 minutes away. The harm inflicted in Idaho does not stay in Idaho — and neither does the movement for freedom.
To defeat these attacks and help restore abortion access at the ballot in 2026, we must expand our advocacy, organizing, and cross-state partnerships now.
That work requires resources.
If you believe in a future rooted in dignity, safety, and freedom for every person in our region, we invite you to invest in this fight. Your support today fuels the organizing, advocacy, and coalition-building needed to win in 2026 — and to stand with LGBTQ+ Idahoans right now.
Make your contribution today.
