Governor Reynolds signed the law and called it a step towards “protecting the rights of women and girls.” The transgender lawmaker said the law “sought to erase us further.”
On February 28th, Iowa became the country’s first state to remove gender identity protection from the Civil Rights Code.
The law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds removes “gender identity” as a protected class and redefines the legal conditions related to state laws that relate to gender and gender.
“Before I signed this bill, the Civil Rights Act blurred the biological lines between genders, and forced Iowa taxpayers to pay for gender reassignment surgery. That’s not acceptable to me, and not for most Iowans.”
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Iowa’s Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in education, employment, housing and public accommodation. It also legally defines “male” and “female” based on the anatomy of reproduction, saying that “gender” is not interpreted as a synonym for gender identity or gender expression.
Reynolds said the bill would line up Iowa’s laws with federal civil rights laws and policies in most other states. She also pointed to previous state laws restricting transgender participation in sports and the use of certain public spaces, saying the measure would enhance their protection.
“We all agree that all Iowans deserve respect and dignity, without exception. We are all children of God, and the law will not change that,” Reynolds said. “But what this bill accomplishes is to enhance protections for women and girls, and I think that’s the right thing to do.”
Democrat Iame Whittendahl, Iowa’s first openly transgender lawmaker, criticized the law as “anti-trans.”
“The purpose of this bill is to further erase us from our public life and condemn us for our existence,” Wittendahl said. “The sum of all anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bills is to make our existence illegal and push us back into the closet.”
These policies face legal challenges, reflecting the broader national debate on gender identity.
Catabella Roberts contributed to this report.
