Idaho says it can use DNA testing to enforce anti-trans bathroom ban

Idaho state officials told a federal judge they can test bathroom users to DNA if necessary to enforce a law segregating stalls by gender.

Idaho’s strict anti-trans law requires people to use public restrooms and changing facilities that correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth. When attorneys for plaintiffs challenging the law noted that many transgender people have state-issued IDs reflecting their gender identity, U.S. District Judge Amanda Brailsford questioned how exactly the state would enforce the statute, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

Idaho Solicitor General Michael Zarian told the judge enforcement should be straightforward “because there is DNA testing.” But that suggestion raises significant questions about privacy rights and what level of suspicion would be required before Idaho authorities could demand that someone submit to genetic testing — a tool more commonly associated with investigating serious crimes such as rape and murder.

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Zarian went on to tell the judge that a person would not necessarily need to consent before such testing could occur, though he said he doubted anyone would be expected to submit to testing on the spot.

But Kell Olson, an attorney for Lambda Legal and a transgender man, said such testing would ordinarily require a warrant issued by a judge. Olson noted that his own state ID lists his sex as male and argued that the law’s impact would be felt by transgender people in routine, everyday situations.

“If I just go to a restaurant with my family and want to wash my hands before dinner, this law comes into play. Now I have to stop and decide, do I — if this law is in effect — do I go into the restroom that is illegal now, the men’s room?” Olson told reporters after the hearing. “Or do I walk into the women’s room and take all of the risk that that now comes with, whether that’s assault or harassment, or someone calling the police, because now it looks like I’m violating the law?”

Related: Idaho Republicans pass bill making it a felony for transgender people to use public bathrooms

Advocates have long warned that bathroom bans are difficult to enforce without encouraging people to scrutinize the appearance of strangers in public restrooms. Critics say such laws can subject both transgender and cisgender people to harassment when others incorrectly assume someone does not belong in a particular facility.

Such incidents have already occurred. In 2025, a Black cisgender lesbian in Arizona said sheriff’s deputies confronted her in a Walmart restroom after someone mistakenly believed she was transgender. Most notably, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado confronted a cisgender woman in a Capitol restroom after mistakenly believing she was transgender U.S. Congresswoman Sarah McBride of Delaware.

The proposal also collides with reality. DNA testing is not something police can perform on the spot. Even in serious criminal investigations, forensic DNA analysis frequently takes weeks or months to complete because samples must be collected, processed, and analyzed in a laboratory.

Railsford, who was appointed to her current spot on the bench by President Joe Biden, is expected to decide soon whether to issue an injunction that blocks enforcement of the law as a challenge plays out in court.