Iowa became the first US state to remove gender identity protections from its civil rights code on Friday when Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that opponents say will expose transgender people and other Iowans to discrimination in all aspects of daily life, per the AP. The new law, which goes into effect July 1, follows several years of action from Reynolds and Iowa Republicans to restrict transgender students' use of such spaces as bathrooms and locker rooms, and their participation on sports teams, describing it as an effort to protect people assigned female at birth. Republicans say those policies cannot co-exist with a civil rights code that includes gender identity protections.
The law passed quickly after first being introduced last week. It also creates explicit legal definitions of female and male based on their reproductive organs at birth, rejecting the idea that a person can transition to another gender. Reynolds proposed a similar bill last year, but it didn't make it to a vote of the full House or Senate. The governor posted a video on social media explaining her signature on the bill and acknowledging that it was a "sensitive issue for some."
"It's common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it's necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls," she said, adding that the previous civil rights code "blurred the biological line between the sexes." Advocacy groups promise to defend transgender rights, which may lead them to court. Keenan Crow, director of policy and advocacy for LGBTQ+ advocacy group One Iowa, said the organization is still analyzing the text of the bill and that its vagueness makes it "hard to determine where the enforcement is going to come from." Crow added: "We will pursue any legal options available to us."
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