Minister found guilty of trespassing while protesting nation's "most extreme" bathroom bill

An Idaho jury on August 27 found Rev. Sara LaWall, a pastor with a transgender child, guilty of a misdemeanor trespassing charge for refusing to leave the office of Gov. Brad Little (R) after it closed on April 1st. LaWall was one of nine protesters arrested in Little’s office on that day during a demonstration against several anti-trans bills, including a bathroom ban and one requiring schools to out trans kids to their parents.

LaWall noted that the maximum sentence for her crime (six months) is less than the punishment for violating the state’s anti-trans bathroom ban (one year), something she told The Idaho Capital Sun “just feels so disproportionate and so wrong.” Trans journalist Erin Reed noted that the bathroom ban’s penalties are harsher than Idaho’s own punishments for indecent exposure or driving under the influence.

LaWall and her fellow protesters filled Little’s office to oppose HB 752, a bill that imposes extreme penalties for trans people who “knowingly and willfully” use a restroom aligned with their gender, in both government buildings and businesses that are open to the public. Four violations of the law are punishable with felony charges and the possibility of life in prison. LGBTQ+ allies have called the law “the most extreme anti-transgender bathroom ban in the nation.” Even state police opposed it.

The protesters were also opposed to HB 822, a bill requiring schools and childcare providers to out trans kids to their parents if the kids express any desire to socially transition. The law requires teachers, administrators, school nurses, and others to report the desire within three days, or else risk being subject to compensatory damages by parents who sue them.

Little signed both bills into law on the Trans Day of Visibility without ever meeting with the protesters.

“I think there is some twisted thought of this idea of Christian nationalism, that we can create this state to be a Christian state,” LaWall, minister for the Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, told the Idaho Capital Sun at the time. “That’s not how our country was founded. Our country was founded on the freedom of religion.”

During the protest, a dozen trans people and allies filled an anteroom in his office, displaying signs, singing hymns, and praying. The protesters stayed in the office for more than three hours.

Nine protesters, including LaWall, were arrested after the governor’s office closed at 5 p.m., the Idaho State Journal reported. Dozens of supporters watched and chanted, “Everybody rise up. Everybody rise up,” as troopers removed them.

During the trial, in which LaWall wore a rainbow-speckled blazer and a clerical collar, the judge limited testimony on why protesters had come to the office. Instead, LaWall was one of just three witnesses, including Idaho State Police trooper Sgt. Jason Cagle (who arrested LaWall) and a front desk worker for the governor’s office, both of whom told the protesters to leave by the office’s closing time.

Cagle’s body camera footage showed him warning LaWall and her fellow protesters three times – at 4:45 pm, 5:02 pm, and 5:12 pm – that they’d have to leave once the office locked its doors at 5 pm.

“Just so everybody knows, your voice has been heard. We’ve heard you. We’ve seen you. We’ve passed your notes, your letters, along to the governor’s office. Getting arrested really isn’t going to do you any good,” Cagle said to the protestors.

During the last warning, he spoke directly to LaWall, calling her the protest’s leader and asking whether she would be the first to leave. If not, he added, he would arrest her and the others on trespassing charges. When LaWall refused, he arrested her.

Reed noted that “sit-ins” against unjust laws have a long history in the United States and are increasingly common to protest transphobic laws. A GoFundMe organized by LaWall raised over $32,400 to cover jail, court, and legal fees for the arrestees.

“I have really mixed feelings,” LaWall said of the guilty verdict. “It’s hard not to feel a little emotional about the verdict, but I don’t — I’m not entirely surprised. I took the stand and said as much as the judge allowed me to say about why we were there, which wasn’t very much, and that was disappointing to me to not be able to tell more of the story about why we were there.”

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Originally published here.