{"id":12395,"date":"2025-07-01T06:50:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T06:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=12395"},"modified":"2025-07-01T06:51:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T06:51:00","slug":"iowas-civil-rights-protections-no-longer-include-gender-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=12395","title":{"rendered":"Iowa’s civil rights protections no longer include gender identity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

DES MOINES, Iowa — <\/span>Iowa became the first state to remove gender identity<\/a> from its civil rights code under a law that took effect Tuesday, meaning transgender and nonbinary residents are no longer protected from discrimination in their job, housing and other aspects of life.<\/p>\n

The law also explicitly defines female and male based on reproductive organs at birth<\/a> and removes the ability for people to change the sex designation on their birth certificate.<\/p>\n

An unprecedented take-back of legal rights after nearly two decades in Iowa code leaves transgender, nonbinary and potentially even intersex Iowans more vulnerable now than they were before<\/a>. It’s a governing doctrine now widely adopted by President Donald Trump and Republican-led states despite the mainstream medical view<\/a> that sex and gender are better understood as a spectrum than as an either-or definition. <\/p>\n

When Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa\u2019s new law, she said the state\u2019s previous civil rights code \u201cblurred the biological line between the sexes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it\u2019s necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls,\u201d she said in a video statement.<\/p>\n

Also taking effect Tuesday are provisions in the state\u2019s health and human services budget that say Medicaid recipients are no longer covered for gender-affirming surgery or hormone therapy.<\/p>\n

Iowa\u2019s state Capitol filled with protesters as the law went through the Republican-controlled Legislature and to Reynolds\u2019 desk in just one week in February<\/a>. Iowa Republicans said laws passed in recent years to restrict transgender students\u2019 use<\/a> of bathrooms and locker rooms, and their participation on sports teams<\/a>, could not coexist with a civil rights code that includes gender identity protections.<\/p>\n

About two dozen other states<\/a> and the Trump administration have advanced restrictions on transgender people. Republicans say such laws and executive actions<\/a> protect spaces for women, rejecting the idea that people can transition to another gender. Many face court challenges.<\/p>\n

About two-thirds of U.S. adults<\/a> believe that whether a person is a man or woman is determined by biological characteristics at birth, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in May found. But there’s less consensus on policies that target transgender and nonbinary people.<\/p>\n

Transgender people say those kinds of policies deny their existence and capitalize on prejudice for political gain.<\/p>\n

In a major setback for transgender rights nationwide, the U.S. Supreme Court last month upheld Tennessee\u2019s ban<\/a> on puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors<\/a>. The court\u2019s conservative majority said it doesn\u2019t violate the Constitution\u2019s equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same.<\/p>\n

Not every state includes gender identity in their civil rights code, but Iowa was the first to remove nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights think tank.<\/p>\n

Iowans will still have time to file a complaint with the state Office of Civil Rights about discrimination based on gender identity that occurred before the law took effect.<\/p>\n

State law requires a complaint to be submitted within 300 days after the most recent incident of alleged discrimination. That means people have until April 27 to file a complaint about discrimination based on gender identity, according to Kristen Stiffler, the office\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

Sixty-five such complaints were filed and accepted for investigation from July 2023 through the end of June 2024, according to Stiffler. Forty-three were filed and accepted from July 1, 2024, through June 19 of this year. <\/p>\n

Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, a Democrat and the state\u2019s first openly transgender lawmaker, fears the law will lead to an increase in discrimination for transgender Iowans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime someone has to check your ID and they see that the gender marker doesn\u2019t match the appearance, then that opens up hostility, discrimination as possibilities,\u201d Wichtendahl said, naming examples such as applying for a job, going through the airport, buying beer or getting pulled over in a traffic stop. \u201cThat instantly outs you. That instantly puts you on the spot.\u201d<\/p>\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

Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled<\/a> LGBTQ people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. But Iowa\u2019s Supreme Court has expressly rejected<\/a> the argument that discrimination based on sex includes discrimination based on gender identity.<\/p>\n

The months between when the bill was signed into law and when it took effect gave transgender Iowans time to pursue amended birth certificates before that option was eliminated.<\/p>\n

Keenan Crow, with LGBTQ+ advocacy group One Iowa, said the group has long cosponsored legal clinics to assist with that process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last one that we had was by far the biggest,\u201d Crow said.<\/p>\n

Iowa\u2019s Department of Transportation still has a process by which people can change the gender designation on their license or identification card but has proposed administrative rules to eliminate that option.<\/p>\n

Wichtendahl also said she has talked to some families who are looking to move out of state as a result of the new law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking because this is people\u2019s lives we\u2019re talking about,” Wichtendahl added. \u201cThese are families that have trans loved ones and it\u2019s keeping their loved ones away, it\u2019s putting their loved ones into uncertain future, putting their health and safety at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa became the first state to remove gender identity from its civil rights code under a law that took effect Tuesday, meaning transgender and nonbinary residents are no longer protected from discrimination in their job, housing and other aspects of life. The law also explicitly defines female and male based on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12397,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12395\/revisions\/12397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}