LGBTQ
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7 Iowa events for Transgender Day of Visibility 2024
Transgender Iowans need joy these days. Eight separate bills have been considered in the latest session of the Iowa Legislature specifically targeting transgender youth, contributing to Iowa Republicans’ 40 anti-LGBTQ bills in total. Fearmongering legislation—like bills banning people from school bathrooms, or erasing LGBTQ history—has led to further stigmatization of the transgender community. That’s contributed…
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Senate Republicans pass bill that could allow discrimination on religious grounds
Sen. Liz Bennett (D-Cedar Rapids)—Iowa’s only out LGBTQ senator—is fed up with seeing queer Iowans continue to be attacked by her Republican colleagues. “I am sick and tired of my community being the target of mean-spirited discriminatory bills written by Republican politicians,” she said during a Tuesday Iowa Senate debate over a bill she and…
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Iowans call Reynolds’ latest anti-trans bill ‘dystopian’ and destructive
Alexandra Gray compared what is happening in Iowa to a dystopian novel during yet another hearing centered on creating new laws that specifically target trans people and pose harm to Iowans in the LGBTQ community. “What dystopian novel are we in this time because I’m finding us slipping and going backward,” she said. “At one…
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‘We will not go back’ protestors chant outside anti-LGBTQ bill hearing
About every two minutes, the crowd would roar, stomp their feet, raise their voices, ring bells, and chant at the top of their lungs: “Separate but equal, that’s really fucking evil.” “We will not go back.” “Trans rights are human rights.” “No LGB with the T.” Hundreds of Iowans gathered in the Capitol Rotunda on…
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Public hearing set for Gov. Reynolds’ anti-trans bill
PUBLIC HEARING UPDATE: A public hearing has been set for Iowa Gov. Reynolds’ most recent anti-trans bill, which was renumbered to House File 2389. The bill would establish legal definitions of gendered terms like “man,” “woman,” “mother,” and “father,” and require trans Iowans to have special birth certificates and use separate facilities in public facilities.…
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VIDEOS: Iowans react to LGBTQ discrimination bill going up in flames
On Wednesday, an Iowa House subcommittee for HF 2082 met to hear public comments and debate if the bill should move forward. If passed, HF 2082 would have removed gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act and categorized gender dysphoria as a disability, effectively legalizing the discrimination of trans Iowans.…
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Bill to legalize discrimination against trans Iowans goes down in flames
Cheers rang out down the hallway as a bill that would have legalized discrimination against trans and nonbinary Iowans failed to pass an Iowa House subcommittee Wednesday. HF 2082 would have removed gender identity as a protected class and added a diagnosis for gender dysphoria or gender identity to the disabilities clause of the civil…
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Instead of fixing real issues, Iowa Republicans push 10 bills to discriminate against LGBTQ Iowans
We are less than a month into the 2024 Iowa Legislative Session and the Republicans in charge of Iowa’s state government have been busy— and by busy, we mean coming up with new ways to legally discriminate against LGBTQ Iowans. As Iowans struggle with stagnant wages, budget shortfalls in public schools, worsened water quality, higher…
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Iowa Republicans want to ban local bans on conversion therapy
Iowa Republicans are continuing their attack on Home Rule in the Legislature this year, this time going after bans on widely discredited conversion therapy for minors. Iowa Sen. Sandy Salmon—a Republican from Janesville who represents Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw and most of Floyd counties—introduced Senate File 2037 last week. It passed out of a Senate subcommittee…
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7 Iowa families file federal lawsuit to stop anti-LGBTQ+ law
Someone threatened to kill Percy Batista-Pedro when he was a freshman performing in the school play. Now a junior in high school in the Waterloo Community School District, Percy—a transgender student—said he feels like he has a target on his back because of an anti-LGBTQ+ law passed by Iowa Republicans this year and signed into…
