Iowa’s Capitol fills with protesters as lawmakers consider bill removing gender identity protection

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Amid a heavy police presence and hundreds of vocal protesters, Iowa lawmakers on Thursday considered an unprecedented bill that would strip the state civil rights code of protections based on gender identity, a move opponents say could expose transgender people to discrimination in numerous areas of life.

Both the House and Senate were expected to vote on the legislation Thursday, the same day the Georgia House backed away from removing gender protections from the state's hate crimes law, which was passed in 2020 after the death of Ahmaud Arbery.

Iowa's bill, first introduced last week, raced through the legislative process, despite opposition from LGBTQ+ advocates who rallied at the Capitol on Monday and Tuesday.

On Thursday, opponents of the bill filed into the Capitol rotunda with signs and rainbow flags to rally before, during and after a 90-minute public hearing, shouting, “No hate in our state!” There was a heavy police presence, with state troopers stationed around the rotunda and hearing room.

Of the 167 people who signed up to testify at the public hearing before a House committee, all but 24 were opposed to the bill. Each time a person who had spoken opened the hearing room door to leave, the roar of protesters outside filled the room, forcing repeated pauses.

To avoid delays, state troopers blocked off the hallway outside the room, creating a “natural buffer,” said Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens. The move was intended to allow the public hearing to proceed while also protecting First Amendment rights to demonstrate, Bayens said.

In Iowa, gender identity was added to the civil rights code in 2007 when Democrats controlled the Legislature. If removed, Iowa would be the first state to undo explicit nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity, said Logan Casey, director of policy research at the Movement Advancement Project.

In Georgia, the changes to the hate crimes law were proposed in a bill that would restrict sports participation for transgender students. That's something the state's high school athletic association now does by policy but that Republican leaders insist needs to be in law and also apply to colleges and universities.

A Georgia House committee rewrote the bill at the last minute Wednesday to leave the word “gender” in the state's hate crimes law after Democrats warned removing the word could end extra penalties for crimes motivated by bias against transgender people.

Iowa's bill would remove gender identity as a protected class and explicitly define female and male, as well as gender, which would be considered a synonym for sex and “shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.”

Supporters of the change say the current code incorrectly codified the idea that people can transition to another gender and granted transgender women access to spaces such as bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that should be protected for people who were assigned female at birth.

Iowa Republicans say their changes are intended to reinforce the state's ban on sports participation and public bathroom access for transgender students. If approved, the bill would go to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed those policies into law. A spokesperson for Reynolds declined to comment on whether she would sign the bill.

V Fixmer-Oraiz, a county supervisor in eastern Johnson County, was the first to testify against the bill. A trans Iowan, they said they have faced their “fair share of discrimination” already and worried that the bill will expose trans Iowans to even more.

“Is it not the role of government to affirm rather than to deny law-abiding citizens their inalienable rights?” Fixmer-Oraiz said. “The people of Iowa deserve better.”

Among those speaking in support of the bill was Shellie Flockhart of Dallas Center, who said she is in favor as a woman and a mother, a “defender of women’s rights” and someone “who believes in the truth of God’s creation.”

“Identity does not change biology,” Flockhart said.

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, an LGBTQ+ rights think tank. Some additional states do not explicitly protect against such discrimination but it is included in legal interpretations of statutes.

Iowa's Supreme Court has expressly rejected the argument that discrimination based on sex includes discrimination based on gender identity.

Several Republican-led legislatures are also pushing to enact more laws this year creating legal definitions of male and female based on the reproductive organs at birth following an executive order from President Donald Trump.

Trump also signed orders laying the groundwork for banning transgender people from military service and keeping transgender girls and women out of girls and women's sports competitions, among other things. Most of the policies are being challenged in court.

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This story has been edited to correct that the Georgia House rewrote the bill Wednesday, not Thursday.

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Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.