Iowa Governor Signs Bill Removing Gender Identity Protections
On February 28, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds enacted legislation that removes gender identity as a protected class within the state’s civil rights code. This move makes Iowa the first state to take such action. Senate File 418, slated to take effect on July 1, amends the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which previously prohibited discrimination in employment, public accommodations, housing, education, and credit practices based on gender identity.
The new law will likely make it harder for transgender individuals to seek legal recourse for discrimination or harassment in state court. Furthermore, the amended law affirms that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.” The swift passage of the legislation saw it move through both the Iowa House and Senate in under a week, following its introduction on February 24.
“It is common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it is necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls,” Reynolds stated in a public release.
Key Changes in Senate File 418
In recent years, Iowa has taken several actions regarding transgender rights, including laws restricting gender-affirming care for individuals under 18, prohibiting transgender students from using school bathrooms that do not align with their sex assigned at birth, and barring transgender students from participating in girls’ high school sports and women’s college athletics. SF 418 further alters Iowa state law, rejecting the concept of gender identity as separate from biological sex.
Specifically, the law defines “sex” in statutes as “the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth” and defines “female” and “male” based on reproductive systems that produce ova and sperm, respectively. The law asserts that the term “gender” is synonymous with “sex” and does not encompass “gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.”
The legislation also mandates that birth certificates include the designated sex of the person and eliminates the provision allowing for a new birth certificate based on a notarized affidavit from a licensed physician stating a change in sex designation due to surgery or other medical treatment. Additionally, the bill impacts school curricula, prohibiting schools from providing any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion, or instruction related to “gender theory” or sexual orientation to students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Next Steps and Broader Context
Iowa’s actions come as discussions around gender identity and civil rights continue at the federal level. The Trump administration, for example, has sought to define “sex” as binary and immutable, including through Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
The administration also sought to limit the implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga., in which the court held that discrimination against an employee based on sexual orientation or gender identity constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Employers should be aware that Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga. remains good law. The court’s majority opinion stated, regarding Title VII, “The answer is clear. An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”
Christine Bestor Townsend is an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Milwaukee and Chicago. Zachary V. Zagger is senior marketing counsel with Ogletree Deakins in New York City. © 2025 Ogletree Deakins. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
