Thousands of Idahoans turn out for No Kings anti-Trump protest. They had beef with the Legislature.

Thousands of Idahoans turned out to the Idaho State Capitol in downtown Boise on Saturday for the third No Kings protest, one of many similar protests against President Donald Trump and government overreach happening across the country.

A wave of protestors — donning signs and shouting chants against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Trump — flooded the streets in front of the Capitol building. The crowd appeared to be roughly 5,000 people.

Nationally, the protest is organized against federal policies. But many speakers at the protest in Boise localized their frustrations with the Republican supermajority-controlled Idaho Legislature, over the latest in a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ bills and years of not changing the state’s strict abortion ban, even as doctors have left the state.

The protest came just a day after the Idaho Legislature passed what some advocates call the most extreme anti-transgender bathroom ban in the U.S. House Bill 572, which heads to Gov. Brad Little for final consideration, would create a felony crime for people who violate the bathroom ban twice within five years, punishable by up to five years in prison. 

Maxine Durand, a Democratic candidate for governor in Idaho, told the crowd she’d rather be talking about other policies — like Medicare for all, raising the minimum wage, and expanding the state’s public education system.

“Instead, I have to argue with old men about where I get to pee,” Durand told the crowd. 

Organizers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho encouraged protestors to tell the governor to veto the bill. 

Speakers urge protections for Idaho’s ballot initiative process, encourage protestors to sign ‘end the ban’ petition

Melanie Folwell, who leads the group behind a proposed ballot initiative that would repeal Idaho’s strict abortion ban and add reproductive rights to state law, argued the initiative is needed because politicians haven’t fixed the state’s law.

“For four — four — legislative sessions now, the legislators in this building have been asked to act,” Folwell said on the Capitol’s front steps. “They have heard from doctors, they’ve heard from women, they’ve heard from their families. They’ve heard stories that would break the heart of anybody with conscience. And they have not acted.”

The group, Idahoans United for Women and Families, is close to qualifying the initiative for the 2026 ballot on a deadline of April 30, she said. Folwell said the group has 87,000 signatures so far — more than the number required — but it hopes to turn in 100,000.

Durand compared the current era to the Gilded Age — a time period in the late 1800s that some historians say was marked by inequality and corruption. But, she said real change is possible.

“The upside to that is right after the Gilded Age came the progressive era,” Durand said. “It is not inevitable that we will win, but it is inevitable if we fight.”

Terri Pickens, who is also running for Idaho governor as a Democrat, said Idahoans like the government to “stay out of our businesses.”

“We certainly want them to stay out of our bedrooms, our doctors offices, our schools and our libraries. But they can’t seem to get that right in Idaho,” Pickens said. 

Other speakers at the rally included Luke Mayville, who helped found the group Reclaim Idaho, which successfully pushed for a 2018 ballot initiative that established Medicaid expansion in Idaho. 

No Kings protests were also scheduled elsewhere in Idaho on Saturday, including in Nampa, Caldwell, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Rexburg, Twin Falls, Coeur d’Alene, Lewiston, Arco, Moscow and Driggs.