BOISE, Idaho — The group of nine had been camped out in the Idaho governor’s office for hours, begging for a meeting with Gov. Brad Little.

It was April 1, the day after Transgender Day of Visibility. It was also the day after the governor signed what the ACLU of Idaho has called the most extreme bathroom ban in the country, making it a crime for a transgender person to use a restroom aligned with their gender identity in most public places.

At the time, Little was about to receive another bill that would require schools and healthcare providers to inform a parent within 72 hours if their child requested to take steps to socially transition, which could include using a name or pronouns that don’t correspond to their sex assigned at birth. It was up to him whether to let that bill become law.

The group of protesters thought, maybe, if they could just talk to the governor, they could make him understand their concerns. All they had was hope. So they stayed until the governor’s office closed to the public at 5 p.m. They stayed when they were told to leave, and again when they were threatened with arrest. And they calmly did as they were told when a law enforcement officer informed them they were under arrest and booked them into the Ada County Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing, according to video of the incident and the protesters.

The seven protesters who spoke to the Statesman said they never doubted their decisions. Some of them have since accepted a plea deal.

Four of the nine people who were arrested that day have opted to go to trial, where a jury will decide if they are guilty of misdemeanor trespassing. If found guilty, they risk jail time — a disconcerting outcome, but one they said they are prepared to face. Most of the trials are expected to happen in the coming weeks and months.

For the Rev. Sara LaWall — a parent of a transgender child — that day came earlier this month. After a day-long trial, jurors deliberated only briefly before coming to a verdict: guilty.

Before her trial, sitting in a park in front of the Idaho Capitol on a warm August day, LaWall thought about May Pollard, a transgender teen who died by suicide earlier this year. Pollard’s parents told NBC News how the state’s laws targeting transgender people impacted their daughter on a daily basis, making it difficult for her to use the bathroom at school and to receive gender-affirming care. LaWall pointed to the “vitriol” that trans kids experience every day.

“As the parent of a trans kiddo, the experience of being arrested, while unnerving and uncomfortable, was nothing compared to what the state is doing to trans folks and the fear for their safety that they have to encounter every single day,” LaWall told the Statesman. “Our trans kids just want to be kids. … They just want to be able to exist exactly the way other kids get to exist.”

‘They’re not allowing us to speak’

Early one morning this month, more than a dozen people filled the hallway at the Ada County Courthouse to support LaWall. The group included many of those who were arrested in April, and some of whom will be heading to trial themselves in the coming months.

LaWall embraced each person as she walked by.

For Ann Bolyard, her own arrest marked a first in her 85 years. She said, though, she felt “calm” when it happened.

The group had so much support from outside the governor’s office, it didn’t feel “particularly frightening,” said Linda Secretaran, who is heading to trial later this year. “By the time it became clear that we were going to be arrested … it was, ‘OK, that’s the natural outcome of this event, so here we go,’ ” she said. “We were together, and that was a very big thing that we had each other always.”

Robin Owen showed up to the courthouse wearing a skirt with pink and blue streaks, the colors of the transgender flag. Owen, a transgender woman who was also arrested in April, reached a breaking point this year and decided to move out of Idaho, leaving behind a community of 36 years. Owen saw the direction the state was headed with its laws. It became unsafe for her to stay, she said, and this year, she was able to leave. So she did.

No one should have to leave their home, though, Owen told the Statesman.

During the trial, jurors heard from the sergeant who arrested LaWall and the other protesters, and they watched video from the incident. They saw the sergeant warn those in the governor’s office after it had closed that if they didn’t leave, they would be arrested for trespassing. Several minutes later, he approached LaWall, who was sitting on the floor, and asked her directly if she was going to leave. She said no. He then told her she was under arrest.

LaWall said she stayed because the governor hadn’t come to meet with them.

“We were waiting to talk to the governor,” she said on the stand.

Her trial came as Idaho lawmakers have passed a number of laws in recent years affecting transgender people. Laws have restricted gender-affirming care for minors, barred trans women and girls from playing in sports that align with their gender identity and banned trans students from using school bathrooms that don’t correspond with their sex assigned at birth.

This year, they added the bathroom bill, which a judge blocked from fully going into effect, and the law on social transitions for students. When discussing the bill on social transitions, lawmakers in a House committee earlier this year cut off testimony and rushed a vote, giving lawmakers no time to debate. The move spurred pushback by Democrats, who said in a report that the bill had fines disproportionate to the nature of the offense and had no safety protections for children at risk of abuse.

“Everyone should be concerned when people are not allowed to give testimony at hearings, both sides of the aisle, doesn’t matter who you’re voting for,” said Carolyn Blackhurst, who was also part of the sit-in. “You should be concerned that you’re not being allowed a voice. You’re paying your taxes. These people are working for us, and they’re not allowing us to speak.”

‘We’ve always been everywhere’

Dustin Miller is preparing for his trial later this year. Miller said he showed up to the sit-in because he wanted to fight for the safety of kids across Idaho, including his own.

Miller had his daughter about a decade ago, and breastfed her until she was 18 months old. After that, he said, it was time for him to be his authentic self and “live a happier life.” He began to transition with support from his family.

“If I did not have that, and I did not have leaders of faith that show up for us, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here with all these lovely people that are doing the right thing.”

He formed a community with the group of people he met at the sit-in. Blackhurst, who he said became his daughter’s adopted grandmother, hugged him as he grew emotional sharing his story, the worries he has for his daughter’s future and his reasons for going to trial.

His daughter, 10, recently came out as transgender. Miller described her as a very bright, happy child who has seen hate in the world.

“She has to battle every day when she goes out the door: ‘Am I going to risk attack to be my authentic self, or am I going to hide,’ ” he said. “And it’s not fair. She’s 10 years old. She just wants to live.”

He tells his daughter that she is loved, and nobody can take her dignity.

“So when we hold on to our dignity and we fight and we do what’s right, that’s trans joy, and that’s how we exist in this world,” Miller said.

Miller said he isn’t worried about himself. But he worries about the kids who are affected by these laws, who aren’t eating or drinking all day because they don’t want to have to use the bathroom during school hours, and who are being singled out for their identity.

He went to the governor’s office on that day in April because he wanted to have a conversation.

“I wanted the governor to see a real, live trans person. I’m trans. I shop at Walmart sometimes, and I’m safe,” he said. “I really wanted him to see the humanity in that, you know, meet us, talk to us. We’re here. We’re everywhere. We’ve always been everywhere, and we’re not going anywhere.”

He’s going to trial, he said, because all he did is ask to talk to the governor.

“The only thing I’m guilty of is showing up at the governor’s office with hope and prayer that I could beg him not to sign the bill that was on his desk,” he said.

What did protesters want to tell the governor?

Before the trial, LaWall told the Statesman she was having a mix of emotions. She said at the time she was bolstered by so many people in history who have gone to jail for standing up for their values and their communities.

Following the trial, she said she wished she could have gotten on the stand and shared more of her story, including why she wanted so desperately to meet with the governor. But she was limited on what she could say at the trial about why the group was there. She said she and others had gone through all other available pathways, and didn’t feel they were heard.

“We only wanted to be able to speak to the governor and share those stories and share our requests, and that’s why we stayed,” she said. “So it wasn’t merely just to protest. It was bigger than that. It meant more than that.”

Now, she awaits her sentencing later this month. It’s unnerving to not know what will happen, she said, but at the same time, the maximum sentence for misdemeanor trespassing is less than the jail time a trans person could receive for using a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity under Idaho’s bathroom bill.

Miller said he has no regrets about going to trial. He has spoken to his daughter about it, and warned her that it could mean he goes to jail.

“Although she would miss her dad and be sad,” he said, “she told me that it would be OK if I went to jail.”

If Miller had gotten to talk to the governor, he said, he would have told Little about his life. He would have talked about his transition and what it is like for him being a trans man. Then, he said, he would have told the governor about his daughter.

“I wanted to tell him, my daughter just came out and she’s having a really hard time,” he said, his voice breaking, ”and I want her to live to see adulthood.”

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