Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature has voted to eliminate gender identity as a protected class from the state’s civil rights code, in a move that has drawn strong criticism.
The bill, which was swiftly advanced through the legislative process, faces opposition from Democrats and LGBTQ+ rights advocates. Protests were held at the statehouse in Des Moines. Demonstrators filled the Iowa Capitol hallways, holding transgender and LGBTQ pride flags and chanting.
The legislation, Senate File 418, eliminates the inclusion of gender identity in the Iowa Civil Rights Act. This act currently safeguards Iowans from discrimination across areas such as employment, housing, education, and public accommodations. Protections for sexual orientation and gender identity were added in 2007 when Democrats were in control of both legislative chambers as well as the governor’s office.
The state Senate approved the measure in a vote of 33-15, with results split along party lines. The Iowa House later voted 60-36 in favor of the bill.
Iowa Republicans, who have previously backed legislation that restricts transgender youth’s access to gender-affirming care, restrooms, locker rooms, and participation in school sports aligned with their gender identity, have stated that this measure is necessary for enforcing those laws while protecting women and children.
“There’s been a lot of false hyperbole on the floor of this chamber today. Clearly, in my opinion, Democrats do not want to talk about the reality of the erasing of women as a result of gender identity based on feelings being elevated to a protected class status in the Iowa code,” said state Rep. Steven Holt, who introduced the measure. He argued transgender rights had been “elevated” above those of women.
Iowa Sen. Jason Schultz (R), the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate, said state law could not protect both sex and gender identity.
A number of GOP lawmakers pointed to an executive order from President Trump, which stated the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female.
Governor Kim Reynolds has not indicated whether she will sign the measure. Since her election in 2017, she has signed at least six laws that specifically target transgender rights. Last year, she proposed a bill that would have required the state to recognize Iowans based solely on their sex assigned at birth.
During this week’s sessions, Iowa Democrats strongly criticized the proposal to remove gender identity as a protected class, calling it cruel and unnecessary. They read aloud numerous letters from transgender constituents and families with transgender children, urging lawmakers to vote against the measure.
“This state is going to become the first state in the nation to back up on civil rights,” Democratic state Sen. Bill Dotzler said Thursday, speaking directly to his Republican colleagues. “You get to carry that honor with you as long as you live because you’re going to take the votes to do it. When I go to my grave, I will not have to face that.”
Senate amendments that would have shielded transgender and gender-nonconforming people from discrimination in housing, employment and credit were overwhelmingly rejected by the upper chamber’s Republican supermajority.
“Thank you to the Republicans for making it abundantly clear what this bill is about,” state Sen. Matt Blake (D) said Thursday after the housing discrimination amendment was defeated. “This isn’t meant to protect anyone. It’s not. If it was meant to protect somebody, we would have narrowed the scope of this bill just now.”
Schultz said he rejected the amendments because he wanted the Legislature to pass “a 100 percent bill to provide clarity and predictability going forward.”
Iowa Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, a Democrat and the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker, said this week that the bill deprives trans people “of our life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness.”
“It pains me to be here today,” Wichtendahl said Thursday. “It pains me to see how the rights of an entire group’s people can be so quickly and easily discarded. It pains me to hear the slander, and the fear leveled at the trans community — my community — my friends, and my family, people who just want to live their lives, to be themselves and to live free of fear. This is a fear that I have known.”
“The purpose of this bill, the purpose of every anti-trans bill, is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence,” she said.
