Iowa House bill could remove civil rights protections for transgender Iowans
A bill that would strike all mentions of gender identity for the Iowa Civil Rights Act is heading to subcommittee for consideration.
The law currently prevents decisions relating to employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and credit from being impacted by someone's gender identity. If HSB 242 is signed into law as currently written, those protections would no longer extend to transgender Iowans.
It would also redefine sex as "the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth," and make gender a synonym for the term, "not a synonym or short hand expression for gender identity."
One Iowa's director of policy and advocacy, Kenan Crow, said the changes could bring harm to transgender people in Iowa.
"This is hands down the worst, the most harmful piece of legislation I have ever seen come out of the Iowa legislature" Crow said. "It is terrifying, to a lot of the folks in the community, and it has the potential to upend, transgender Iowans lives in a number of different ways."
When asked to comment on the bill, social conservative organization The Family Leader, gave the following statement to vlog:
"Clearly there ARE circumstances when it is necessary and right to differentiate between a woman … and a man who merely believes he’s a woman.
It's common sense:
- A man has no place in a bathroom or locker room with our wives and daughters.
- A woman in prison shouldn't be forced to share a cell with a biological man.
- Taxpayers shouldn't be forced to pay for so-called "gender transition" surgeries.
There are good reasons for our laws to protect women and children. And we shouldn't force business owners, employers, or state agencies to implement policies that disregard the reality of biological sex.
It’s time to come back to our senses. It is right and good for our laws to recognize the real difference between men and women."
Iowa is one of 23 states, and the district of Columbia, that extend civil rights protections to gender Identity according to the . The classification was added in 2007, when democrats controlled the Iowa House, Senate and Governor's office.
If Iowa removes gender identity from it's Civil Rights Act, it would be the first state to do so. I would also be the second state, behind Wisconsin, to protect people based on their sexual orientation, but not gender identity.
However, bill author Dennison Rep. Steven Holt (R), said Iowa is the only state that also passed restrictions limiting transgender Iowans access to gendered facilities and activities, but maintains them as a protected class.
"We're the only state that has that in place, but also has gender identity as a protected class in Iowa code." Holt said. "Legal experts tell us that those things cannot cohabitate for very long because they conflict."
At the time of publication, a time is not yet scheduled for the subcommittee hearing on HSB 242.
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