Transgender rights protections ended under bill hastily OK’d by Iowa lawmakers despite large, intense protests
Des Moines, Iowa – Iowa lawmakers became the first in the U.S. to approve legislation, despite massive protests against opponents, they say it could make transgender people discriminate in many areas of life.
The measure was carried out through the legislative process after its first introduction last week. The state Senate approved the bill for the first time Thursday, and then the House approved the bill less than an hour later. Five House Republicans voted with all Democrats.
The bill would remove gender identity from the state’s civil rights law and clearly define women and men as well as gender, which would be regarded as synonyms for gender, “it should not be considered as synonyms or shorthand expressions for gender identity, experiencing gender, gender, gender expression or gender role.”
Logan Casey, head of the policy research program at the LGBTQ+ rights think tank, said the measure would be the first legislative action in the United States to eliminate non-discriminatory protections based on gender identity.
The bill now signs an earlier policy to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, banning sports participation and public bathroom access for transgender students. A Reynolds spokesman declined to comment on whether she would sign the bill. If she does, it will take effect on July 1.
Hundreds of LGBTQ+ advocates flowed into the Great Power Rotunda in the Capitol Rotunda Thursday, waving and reading “Transex rights are human rights” and shouting, including “No hatred in our state!”, including “No hatred!”
Charlie Neibergall / AP
Police were present, with state police stationed around the rotunda. Of the 167 people signed at a 90-minute public hearing held by the House Committee, all but 24 opposed the bill.
Protesters watched the vote in the House gallery booed loudly and shouted “Shame!” with the room adjourned. Many have warned Rep. Steven Holt, Iowa, that he managed the bill and made a fierce defense before it was passed.
Proponents of the change say the existing law mistakenly allows people to transition to another gender and grants trans women access to spaces such as bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that should provide protection for those assigned at birth. Holt says that incorporating gender identity into civil rights regulations threatens recent “common sense” laws Transgender people are not allowed to participate in sports and enter the bathroom.
“The Iowa legislature has vested interests and solemn responsibilities in the future of our children and in our culture to support immutable truths,” Holt said.
Iowa lawmakers’ action passed in 2020 as Georgia House withdraws from gender protection from the state hate crime law The Death of Ahmed Abery.
Iowa’s current civil rights laws protect discrimination based on race, color, creed, gender identity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, or disability status.
Sexual orientation and gender identity were not originally included in the State Civil Rights Act of 1965. The democratically controlled legislature increased in 2007, also with the support of about twelve Republicans in two rooms.
Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, the last Democrat to oppose the bill Thursday, became emotional as her personal story as a trans woman, said: “I transitioned to save my life.”
“The purpose of this bill and the purpose of each anti-trans bill is to further eliminate our public life and stigmatize our existence,” Wichtendahl said. “The sum of each anti-estrangement trans and anti-LGBTQ bill is to make our existence illegal.”
When she finished, she was applauded by many legislators and bystanders in the gallery, CBS Report KCCI-TV Monk.
Charlie Neibergall / AP
The station said after the Senate passed the bill, a man began yelling from the gallery, calling the legislator a “face” and asking “Who is the next one?” Three State Moropers took him out. Other yelling people were also deleted
According to the movement’s progressive program, about half of the U.S. states include gender identity in their civil rights codes to prevent discrimination in housing and public places such as shops or restaurants. Some other states cannot explicitly protect this discrimination, but it is included in the legal interpretation of the statute.
The Iowa Supreme Court explicitly rejects the argument that discrimination based on gender includes discrimination based on gender identity.
Several Republican-led legislatures are pushing for more laws this year, creating legal definitions for men and women based on reproductive organs at birth, according to President Trump’s executive order.
He also signed an order to ban transgender people from military service and to make transgender girls and women play like women and women sports. Most policies are challenged in court.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social Network Thursday night: “Iowa, I have won a huge victory every time, there is a bill that can remove radical gender ideology from their laws. Iowa should follow the head of my executive order, saying there are only two genders and passing this bill – passing this bill as soon as possible.
