Iowa governor signs bill removing gender identity from state civil rights protections
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill that strikes gender identity from Iowa law, making the state the first to remove civil rights from a previously protected class.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill Friday that strikes gender identity from the state's civil rights law, making Iowa the first state to remove civil rights from a previously protected class.
The bill passed the Republican-majority state Senate, 33-15, along party lines Thursday. Less than an hour later, the House passed its version of the bill, 60-36, with five Republicans joining Democrats to vote against it.
Reynolds, a Republican, said in a statement Friday that the bill “safeguards the rights of women and girls.” She said the civil rights code’s protections against discrimination based on gender identity “blurred the biological lines between the sexes,” and “forced Iowa taxpayers to pay for gender-reassignment surgeries.”
“We all agree that every Iowan, without exception, deserves respect and dignity,” she said. “What this bill does accomplish is to strengthen protections for women and girls, and I believe that it is the right thing to do.”
The Iowa Civil Rights Act broadly prohibits discrimination in many areas of life, including employment, housing, education and credit. In 2007, the state Legislature, which was then controlled by Democrats, passed a bill that extended those protections to LGBTQ people, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes.
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