Idaho Democrats were gearing up for a quiet, little-known procedural move in the House: Submitting a “minority report.” Over its seven pages, three House Democrats challenged a bill aimed at transgender youth. But Republicans had other plans.

The report would have likely languished in the House Journal, a daily report of activities that few people take the time to read. However, the House GOP contingent suspended the rule allowing such reports, voting 57-11 to block it.

“It was, frankly, an abuse of supermajority power,” said House Minority Leader Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, on the House floor after the vote.

The report criticized a bill from Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, that would prevent schools, child care workers and health care providers from helping a child with a “social transition,” which includes appearing or dressing like someone of a different gender, unless they get the parent’s consent.

The schools and providers must also notify parents if a kid asks to use a different name or pronoun, other than a nickname. The attorney general could seek fines of up to $100,000 for violators.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked a California law that did the opposite. It banned automatically letting parents know about their students’ changed pronouns or gender expression at school, according to PBS.

In the minority report, Democrats wrote that the fines in Skaug’s bill were excessive, that the bill chilled the ability of kids to express themselves, and that the committee heard only limited public testimony.

“To just silence us is a step too far,” Rubel told reporters afterward.

House Majority Leader Jason Monks, R-Meridian, told reporters that was a “fair criticism.”

“Our caucus didn’t want it put into the journal, it’s as simple as that,” Monks said. “Some of it was disingenuous, criticizing the chairman of the way he handled the committee, [and Republicans] didn’t feel that that was fair to be put it into the journal.”

A few Republicans joined all the Democrats present in voting against the motion; Reps. Dustin Manwaring of Pocatello, Cornel Rasor of Sagle, and Lori McCann of Lewiston.

McCann told reporters that Democrats should have the right to put their report in. She said the move could draw more attention to the report than if the caucus ignored it.

“Now we’re going to all be talking about this in the headlines,” she said.

That phenomenon has a name: the Streisand effect, named for the singer Barbra Streisand’s attempt to suppress a photo of her home and thereby drawing more attention to it. For example, after some libraries ban books, they see a surge in people checking out those books.

In fact, in 2008, Skaug, the sponsor of the trans youth bill, was on the Nampa Public Library Board when he voted to take two books off the Nampa library shelves and put them in the office of the director. Afterward, the books — “The New Joy of Sex” and “The Joy of Gay Sex” — were constantly checked out by readers, the Statesman reported at the time.

“It’s always a concern,” Monks said. “Everything we do, we have to question whether or not we’re making matters better or worse.”

________

©2026 Idaho Statesman. Visit at idahostatesman.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.