Southeast Iowans react to repeal of gender identity in civil rights code

DES MOINES — The Iowa Legislature passed Senate File 418 last week, which repeals civil rights protections tied to gender identity.

The legislation supported exclusively by Republican lawmakers struck mentions of “gender identity” — meaning how masculine or feminine a person presents themselves — from the state civil rights code, replacing it with references to sex, based exclusively on reproductive organs that are “observed or clinically verified at birth.”

The bill was signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday, Feb. 28, and takes effect July 1.

While gender identity is not a protected class in every state or the federal Civil Rights Act, opponents pointed out that SF 418 made Iowa the first in the union to remove a right enshrined in its civil rights code.

“I’m here to fight this bill because it would completely destroy the state that I once knew,” said Lily Vajgrt, a Fairfield resident who is transgender, speaking with The Gazette at the capital on Thursday where a crowd of protesters hoped to discourage the legislation’s passage. “It will make it so we can’t be certain we’re going to be safe wherever we go … it’s not like I’ve been denied anything yet, but this bill would allow it, and then there is no legal recourse for that.“

Proponents argued the bill was necessary to maintain protections for women whose gender identity matches their sex. Republican lawmakers said they worried current protections based on gender identity would be abused, potentially allowing men to use women’s restrooms and compete on women’s sports teams if they claimed to be the opposite gender.

While the bill makes no mention of sports teams or bathrooms, its Republican supporters said it would ensure other laws on those matters could hold up in court

“So long as gender identity remains in Iowa Code, the other common-sense policies we have passed are also at risk of suffering the same legal fate,” wrote Rep. Taylor Collins in a column submitted to The Union. “This bill does not take away rights from transgender individuals. Current code actually results in the infringement of many Iowans’ rights, particularly women. In the name of gender identity, women have lost their right to privacy, to play their own sports, and their right to female-only spaces.”

The legislation was fiercely contested by protesters, not just in Des Moines. A crowd gathered on the sidewalk in front of the Henry County Courthouse Sunday in Mt. Pleasant, holding signs protesting a handful of Republican policies and politicians, including the civil rights repeal which was signed two days prior.

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Organizers from the Henry County Democrats said they planned to hold repeat demonstrations in the area for more weekends to come.

“I was there yesterday, to speak up in protest to the rights being taken away, in our country,” said Carrie Duncan, one of the protesters. “Our forefathers paved the way, for us in the United States of America, to live and work in this country, with dignity and respect. All of that is being dismantled, before our very eyes, and we the people are not going to remain silent, as we will be the voices for those of whom are living in fear right now.”

The Human Rights Campaign nonprofit says at least 21 other states and the District of Columbia currently “prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” in housing, employment and public accommodations. Depending on the issue, several others indirectly protect gender identity thanks to court rulings that hold such discrimination inherently entails discrimination based on sex.

The remainder have no legal protections against gender-based discrimination. With that in mind, Rep. Heather Hora — a Republican whose district includes Washington County and rural southern parts of Johnson County — said she was skeptical of opponents who claimed the repeal would result in an influx of denied bank loans, government services, jobs or housing.

“It’s not something like, ‘Every state has it, and then Iowa pulled it out,’” she said. “We put it in for some reason, and I am guessing the people who put it in did not expect us to be where we’re at.”

The representative said state law should prioritize protections for women whose gender matches their sex, arguing that they had indisputable rights to protected spaces.

“We cannot infringe on a female’s right to privacy by someone’s belief in their identity,” Hora said. “You can believe what you want to believe, I have compassion, I understand gender dysmorphia has been around forever, I get it. But you cannot infringe on other peoples’ rights because of what you believe yourself to be, and you can’t require me to believe that as well.”

Many Republicans made similar arguments. In their respective weekly newsletters, Rep. Helena Hayes said the law “returns Iowa code to biological truth,” while Sen. Adrian Dickey said it protected “girls that God made as girls.”

Opponents pushed back on that rhetoric.

Vajgrt said it made little sense to send transgender people to restrooms that didn’t match their outward appearances, saying the argument from Republicans ignored social realities they faced every day.

“They don’t see us as women, they don’t see trans men as men. They don’t see us as who we are, they see us as who we were,” she said. “That’s not who we are, that’s not how we move through the world. If I go to a men’s room, I’m not going to be safe. If a trans man goes into a women’s restroom, he’ll be attacked because people will assume that he’s trying to be a trans woman. That’s not fair to anybody.”

With the bill set to take effect this summer, some impacted Iowans are considering their options elsewhere.

Sean McConnell, a trans man in Washington, said he now feared for his personal safety and insurance coverage unrelated to his gender. He started looking into a move out of the Hawkeye state the day SF 418 passed.

“I have never been so scared in my life, I’m terrified,” he said. “(Moving) would involve me selling everything I’ve got. And I love it here, I really do, but I don’t feel safe here anymore.”

Legal and statutory debates aside, McConnell said he was dismayed by many conservative lawmakers’ assertion that trans people represented a threat to other Iowans’ rights.

“We just want to live our lives,” he said. “We’re not dangerous, we’re not out to take anything from you, we just want the ability to live as ourselves. That’s all we ask, and for some reason, that seems to be very scary to people right now.”

The Cedar Rapids Gazette’s Tom Barton and SEIU’s AnnaMarie Kruse contributed to this report.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com