A judge ruled Tuesday that transgender people won't face criminal charges for using Idaho public restrooms that match their gender identities.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Amanda Brailsford puts on hold enforcement of key components of a law adopted in March — and set to take effect July 1 — that went further than laws in other states to restrict which bathrooms transgender people can use in public places, including privately owned places where restrooms are open to the public.
“This ruling will allow transgender people throughout Idaho to find and use a public restroom,” Lambda Legal lawyer Kell Olson said in a statement Tuesday, "without the fear of arrest looming over them, while we continue the longer fight to permanently defeat this discriminatory law in court.”
At least 19 states, including Idaho, have laws that limit which bathrooms transgender people can use in schools, or sometimes other public buildings.
The Idaho law, signed by Republican Gov. Brad Little in March, went further.
It applies to restrooms — even in private buildings, if they're open to the public. And it introduced criminal penalties, including up to a year in jail for a first offense and up to five years in prison for a second offense.
The law included exceptions allowing a person to use a single-use restroom designated for the “opposite sex” if it's the only “reasonably available” one — and when the person is in “dire need" of using the restroom.
The Idaho Chiefs of Police Association was concerned about how police would determine if someone was in “dire need."
Six transgender Idaho residents represented by Lambda and the American Civil Liberties Union sued, arguing that the law is unconstitutionally vague.
Brailsford, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, largely agreed with the plaintiffs.
Her order didn't entirely throw out the law.
Instead, the judge set some parameters, saying the law couldn't be enforced against someone using a single-stall restroom or when no single-user restroom is available and unoccupied on the same floor as a multi-user facility.
“No one should be forced to choose between the threat of arrest for being themselves in public or the threat of harassment and violence for acting the way the state wants them to be,” ACLU lawyer Barbara Schwabauer said in a statement. "The preliminary injunction is a vital first step as we continue to challenge this gross violation of privacy and fundamental equality until the law is blocked for good.”
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador said he plans to appeal Tuesday's ruling.
He said that even with the ruling, it can take effect regarding changing rooms and some restrooms. It also applies to people who are not transgender.
“This is a results-driven decision that misapplies the law, confuses the issues, and misrepresents the position of the State," he said in a statement. “Biological sex is not vague, and neither is this law.”
FILE - The Idaho state Capitol in Boise, Idaho, on July 3, 2025 (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
LONDON (AP) — A Russian warship fired warning shots near a U.K.-registered pleasure yacht in the English Channel on Tuesday, authorities said, an incident that caused no damage but illustrated heightened tensions between the two countries.
Britain's Defense Ministry launched an investigation after the yacht reported being fired on by a Russian navy vessel about 20 nautical miles (23 miles, 37 kilometers) south of the Isle of Wight, outside U.K. territorial waters.
There were no reports of injuries or damage to the sailing yacht, which continued its journey from the U.K. toward France.
The BBC reported that the yacht, which has no motor, had drifted toward the Russian vessel in foggy conditions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the crew of the frigate Admiral Grigorovich tried to contact the yacht when it was seen sailing on a “dangerous course in close proximity with the warship.” It said the ship's crew launched flares and issued sound signals when the yacht did not respond.
“After the distance had closed to 150 meters (500 feet), the frigate’s commander decided to fire warning shots across the vessel’s bow using small arms,” the ministry said. It said the yacht then changed course and sailed away.
The ministry said the ship's crew “acted in strict accordance” with international navigation rules to avoid a collision.
Britain's account of the incident was similar.
“Following attempts to contact a British vessel in the channel, the Grigorovich fired warning shots. These were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision," Britain's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Russian warships passing through the English Channel are routinely shadowed by the Royal Navy, and patrol vessel HMS Mersey was monitoring the Russian ship at the time of the reported incident and provided support to the yacht's crew.
The British military said last month that it had monitored the Admiral Grigorovich throughout April as the Russian ship escorted six Russia-linked civilian vessels near the U.K.
The altercation occurred two days after British commandos boarded and detained a sanctioned tanker in the Channel that is suspected of being part of the Russian “shadow fleet.” British defense officials said they don't believe the two events are linked.
The tanker's captain, an Indian national charged with shipping Russian oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, was ordered held in jail after appearing Tuesday in court.
The British military has had several close encounters with Russian vessels in the region and warned Moscow in November that it was ready to deal with any incursion into its territory after the spy ship Yantar was detected on the edge of U.K. waters north of Scotland.
In April, Britain and Norway said they had tracked a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the U.K. for several weeks.
A Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel spent weeks following the Russian vessels and prevented them from carrying out “nefarious” activities against underwater infrastructure, then-Defense Secretary John Healey said.
He accused Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe.
Five years ago, Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the Black Sea to force the British destroyer HMS Defender out of an area near Crimea that Moscow claimed as its territorial waters.
The U.K. denied that account and insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon. It was the first time since the Cold War that Moscow acknowledged using live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West. The incident occurred about six months before Russia invaded Ukraine.
An earlier version of this story said the incident occurred about 20 miles south of the Isle of Wight. It is 20 nautical miles, or 23 miles.
FILE - A Russian warship is docked in Port Sudan, Sudan, on Feb. 28, 2021. (AP Photo, File)
