There was a time when finding a bathroom was about looking for the nearest restroom sign.
Now, in Idaho, some transgender people may need to think about something else first: Is it safe for me to use this one?
That question is behind the creation of the Idaho Inclusive Bathroom Map, a community resource developed by Trans Affirm to help transgender, nonbinary, intersex and gender-diverse people identify potentially safer and more welcoming bathrooms and businesses across the state.
The resource is practical. The reason it exists is considerably more troubling.
When a Bathroom Becomes a Legal Question
Idaho’s new restrictions are at the center of that concern.
In March, Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 752 into law, which took effect on July 1. The law establishes criminal penalties for people who knowingly and willfully enter certain bathrooms or changing facilities designated for the opposite sex in businesses and government buildings.
A first offense is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison. A second offense within five years can be prosecuted as a felony carrying a possible sentence of up to five years.
For transgender people, something as mundane as finding a restroom has consequently become intertwined with questions about identity, access and potential criminal consequences.
Idaho is among the states that have enacted restrictions concerning transgender people’s use of bathrooms and changing facilities based on sex.
So, What’s on the Map?
Trans Affirm describes its Idaho Safe Bathroom List as a community-built resource intended to help people locate bathrooms that are “safer, affirming, and accessible.” The map includes businesses, organizations, and public spaces that community members have identified as welcoming. But there’s another important feature: the map doesn’t only identify supportive locations. Community members can also report bathrooms and spaces they consider concerning, inaccessible, or unwelcoming.
That means the resource is effectively creating a crowdsourced guide to navigating everyday life. There is, however, an important disclaimer. Reports come directly from community members and are not guarantees that a location is either safe or unsafe. In other words, the map provides information, not a promise.
READ: Idaho Just Got Creepier. DNA Testing to Use the Bathroom?
Even the Website Has a Safety Feature
Perhaps one of the more striking details is what happens if someone doesn’t feel comfortable having the website visible on their screen. The map includes a quick-close feature that redirects users to a weather website. It is a small technological touch, but it speaks volumes about the circumstances surrounding the resource.
The map also uses color-coded categories to distinguish between gendered restrooms reported as inclusive, gender-neutral or private facilities, and locations where community concerns have been reported. Volunteers help maintain the resource.
Helpful, Necessary and Deeply Unsettling
There is something genuinely admirable about a community building a tool to help its members navigate a changing legal landscape.
But there is also something deeply unsettling about needing the tool in the first place.
A bathroom is one of the most ordinary places imaginable. Nobody goes into one expecting to make a political statement. Nobody should have to calculate whether using a particular restroom could expose them to harassment, confrontation or, now, criminal penalties.
So yes, the Idaho Inclusive Bathroom Map is useful. But perhaps the more important question isn’t which bathroom is safe? It’s why does anyone need a map to figure that out? Because transgender people are human beings, too. They deserve to move through the world with the same dignity, safety, freedom and equal rights as everyone else, without needing a map just to find a bathroom where they can simply be themselves.