The West Bonner County School District has eliminated protections for queer students from its policies that are supposed to comply with federal rules. On its second reading of policy 3280, which outlines equal education opportunities and nondiscrimination, the district’s Board of Trustees voted on April 16 to strike the words “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” from the document.
The policy still protects “…race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, ethnicity, age, language barrier, religious beliefs, physical and mental handicap or disability, economic or social conditions, or actual or potential marital or parental status or status as a homeless child.”
Trustee Kathy Nash said the wording regarding gender identity and sexual orientation in school district policy is, “no longer required.”
West Bonner, which is just over the border in North Idaho, joins several eastern Washington school districts in moves aimed at LGBTQIA+ students: Mead School District trustees are mulling a “Transgender Students” policy that, among other things, would bar transgender students from using the facilities of the gender they identify with. Meanwhile, Central Valley School District trustees decided this week to draft a Title IX complaint against the state over including transgender students in sports.
(Mead’s school board delayed voting on their policy change this week in favor of holding more community discussion.)
In August 2024, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed an executive order opposing changes to then-President Joe Biden’s final rule for Title IX earlier last year. Because of the rule, the U.S. Department of Education added protections for LGBTQIA+ students from discrimination in schools.The final rule sought to protect against discrimination “based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.”
Little’s executive order directed the Idaho State Board of Education to:
- Guarantee every female student in Idaho is provided equal opportunity in sports and school to the fullest extent, as guaranteed to them under the original Title IX rules and Idaho law.
- Work with the State Department of Education to ensure Idaho public schools are following all of Idaho’s laws related to fairness in women’s sports and continue to update all public schools as the legal challenges to the new Title IX rules unfold.
Though the executive order was couched by Little and his administration as protecting women’s and girls’ sports in public schools and universities, critics and LGBTQIA+ activists have pointed out the orders discriminate against transgender youth. In 2020, Little signed House Bill 500 into law, which restricts transgender women from competing in women’s sports in Idaho. Idaho was one of 26 states that sued the Biden administration over the Title IX changes and blocked it from taking immediate effect.
So far in 2025, at least 10 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation have been brought before the Idaho Legislature. Three have been signed into state law by Little, including:
- House Bill 41, which prohibits public schools from displaying flags that represent political, religious or ideological views within school property.
- House Bill 96, which restricts state and local government entities in Idaho to only display official domestic government and military flags. Schools, colleges and universities are exempt.
- House Bill 264, which directs state correctional facilities, colleges and universities and domestic violence shelters to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms and dorm rooms “for the exclusive use by either females or males.” The bill says those facilities must only be used by “members of that sex.”
There was little discussion regarding Policy 3280 at the April school board meeting, except for Trustee Vice Chair Margaret Hall, who did not openly support LGBTQIA+ West Bonner students, but voiced concerns for students facing harassment and discrimination.
“I hope it’s obvious to all of us that we have to protect all children no matter what our own personal beliefs may be,” Hall said.
For more information on LGBTQ+ events in Idaho, go to www.nipridealliance.com.
Sophia Mattice-Aldous is a Murrow News Fellow working directly with newsrooms at RANGE Media and The Newport Miner Newspapers through a program administered by Washington State University. Her reporting is available for use via Creative Commons with credit.
