Judge partially halts Idaho’s anti-trans care law

A federal judge Wednesday granted a partial injunction against Idaho’s law prohibiting the use of public funds and facilities to provide gender-affirming care and certified a class of transgender inmates to challenge the law in court.

The lawsuit Robinson v. Labrador was filed by two trans inmates, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho and the national ACLU, to challenge House Bill 668. The lawsuit argues that the denial of gender-affirming care to incarcerated citizens is a violation of their Eighth Amendment rights prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. A federal judge in Boise narrowly ruled against the law and granted class action status to the plaintiffs.

“Plaintiffs have raised serious questions going to the merits of their claim, they have shown likely irreparable harm from enforcement of the Act, and the balance of equities and public interest weigh in the Plaintiffs’ favor,” Chief U.S. District Court Judge David C. Nye wrote in his 28-page opinion granting the injunction and certification.

The injunction does not halt enforcement of the law entirely but relates only to the provision of gender-affirming care to transgender inmates.

“We are thrilled that the judge recognized the real and unnecessary harm that Idaho’s incarcerated people would suffer if suddenly cut off from their prescribed medication,” Paul Carlos Southwick, legal director for ACLU of Idaho, said in a statement. “We are grateful that this class action lawsuit will protect the rights of both our plaintiffs and all incarcerated people diagnosed with gender dysphoria. People who are serving time have a right to access health care, adequate food, and housing conditions while in the state’s care, and we are grateful those rights were upheld today.”

“I’m not [a plaintiff] because I want recognition. I’m doing it because it has to be done,” Katie Heredia, the primary plaintiff, said. “We are just normal people who happen to be trans. We have medical conditions and deserve access to medical treatment.”

“We really are human beings who just want to be treated like everybody else,” Rose Mills, also a plaintiff, said in a statement. “This decision [to ban public funding for gender-affirming health care] was not people-led. It was just a few people who decided that, and the public needs to know that.”

House Bill 668 was approved by legislators and sent to Republican Gov. Brad Little March 26 and signed the following day. It became effective July 1.