Iowa passes bill eliminating gender identity as a protected category

The Iowa State House of Representatives approved a bill that officially removes gender identity as a protected category in civil rights law, shortly after the state Senate took up the same measure, which was formally introduced a week ago. This bill will establish explicit and specific definitions of female and male and will consider the term "gender" as synonymous with sex, without the term being interpreted in any other way.

The bill will be sent to the Republican Governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, who in recent months has publicly supported this type of measure. Such legislative action took place on the same day that the Georgia decided not to move forward on a proposal to officially remove "gender protections" from its hate crimes law, which was enacted in 2020 following the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Numerous Iowa Republican lawmakers have explained that one of the main goals behind these changes is to strengthen the state's ban on transgender student participation in various sporting events.

Iowa's state civil rights law protects against discrimination based on disability, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, creed, race and color. While protections for gender identity or sexual orientation were not originally part of the Iowa Civil Rights Act when it was enacted in 1965, they were officially added in 2007 by a Democratic-majority legislature.

Protests against the measure

As the Iowa House of Representatives passed the bill, hundreds of LGBTQ activists rallied around the state Capitol, demonstrating their rejection of the measure and carrying signs with messages supporting gender identity as a protected category. State authorities deployed a heavy police presence to prevent the demonstrations from escalating into riots and violent events.

Protesters, who watched the vote on the bill from the House of Representatives gallery, booed loudly each time a representative voted in favor. Much of their criticism was directed primarily at the state's Republican representative, Steven Holt, who in recent weeks was one of the bill's biggest backers and one of the most vocal advocates for the measure during the vote.