{"id":39099,"date":"2025-02-28T02:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T08:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=39099"},"modified":"2025-02-28T02:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T08:24:22","slug":"iowa-gives-final-approval-to-a-bill-to-remove-gender-identity-protections-despite-massive-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=39099","title":{"rendered":"Iowa gives final approval to a bill to remove gender identity protections despite massive protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DES MOINES, Iowa \u2014 Iowa lawmakers became the first in the nation to approve legislation removing gender identity protections<\/a> from the state\u2019s civil rights code Thursday, despite massive protests by opponents who say it could expose transgender people to discrimination in numerous areas of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The measure raced through the legislative process after first being introduced last week. The state Senate was first to approve the bill on Thursday, on party lines, followed by the House less than an hour later. Five House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill would remove gender identity as a protected class from the state\u2019s civil rights law and explicitly define female and male, as well as gender, which would be considered a synonym for sex and \u201cshall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The measure would be the first legislative action in the U.S. to remove nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity, said Logan Casey, director of policy research at the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed earlier policies banning sports participation and public bathroom<\/a> access for transgender students. A spokesperson for Reynolds declined to comment on whether she would sign the bill. If she does, it will go into effect on July 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ advocates streamed into the Capitol rotunda on Thursday waving signs reading \u201cTrans rights are human rights\u201d and chanting slogans including \u201cNo hate in our state!\u201d There was a heavy police presence, with state troopers stationed around the rotunda. Of the 167 people who signed up to testify at a 90-minute public hearing before a House committee, all but 24 were opposed to the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protesters who watched the vote from the House gallery loudly booed and shouted \u201cShame!\u201d as the chamber adjourned. Many admonished Iowa state Rep. Steven Holt, who floor managed the bill and delivered a fierce defense of it before it passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of the change say the current law incorrectly codified the idea that people can transition to another gender and granted transgender women access to spaces such as bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that should be protected for people who were assigned female at birth. Holt said the inclusion of gender identity in the civil rights codes threatens recent \u201ccommonsense\u201d laws to ban transgender participation in sports and access to bathrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe legislature of Iowa for the future of our children and our culture has a vested interest and solemn responsibility to stand up for immutable truth,\u201d Holt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iowa lawmakers\u2019 actions came as the Georgia House backed away from removing gender protections from the state\u2019s hate crimes law<\/a>, which was passed in 2020 after the death of Ahmaud Arbery<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iowa\u2019s current civil rights law protects against discrimination based on race, color, creed, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin or disability status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sexual orientation and gender identity were not originally included in the state\u2019s Civil Rights Act of 1965. They were added by the Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2007, also with the support of about a dozen Republicans across the two chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl was the last Democrat to speak out Thursday against the bill removing those protections, becoming emotional as she offered her personal story as a transgender woman, saying: \u201cI transitioned to save my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe purpose of this bill and the purpose of every anti-trans bill is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence,\u201d Wichtendahl said. \u201cThe sum total of every anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bill is to make our existence illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About half of U.S. states include gender identity in their civil rights code to protect against discrimination in housing and public places, such as stores or restaurants, according to the Movement Advancement Project. Some additional states do not explicitly protect against such discrimination, but it is included in legal interpretations of statutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iowa\u2019s Supreme Court has expressly rejected<\/a> the argument that discrimination based on sex includes discrimination based on gender identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several Republican-led legislatures are pushing to enact more laws<\/a> this year creating legal definitions of male and female based on the reproductive organs at birth following an executive order<\/a> from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump also signed orders laying the groundwork for banning transgender people from military service<\/a> and keeping transgender girls and women out of girls and women\u2019s sports competitions<\/a>, among other things. Most of the policies are being challenged in court<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DES MOINES, Iowa \u2014 Iowa lawmakers became the first in the nation to approve legislation removing gender identity protections from the state\u2019s civil rights code Thursday, despite massive protests by opponents who say it could expose transgender people to discrimination in numerous areas of life. The measure raced through the legislative process after first being introduced last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1274,32509,31931,32510,1738],"class_list":["post-39099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-bill","tag-civil-rights-code","tag-expungement","tag-gender-identity-protections","tag-iowa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39101,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39099\/revisions\/39101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}