Outrage and protests in Iowa as lawmakers pass bill removing trans civil rights protections
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is expected to sign the bill into law (Getty)
Hundreds of Iowa residents have filled the Iowa Capitol building waving Pride flags to protest an anti-trans bill that seeks to remove gender identity as a protected class in the state’s civil rights act.
Iowa House members voted 60-36 on Thursday to pass Senate File 418, which removes protections against gender identity discrimination from the state’s civil rights law, while Senate Republicans voted 33-15 along party lines to pass the legislation.
The civil rights law was first enacted in 1965 and, after lawmakers added sexual orientation and gender identity in 2007, prohibits discrimination based on race, creed, colour, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, disability, and gender identity.
This bill would change that, removing gender identity from the list as well as requiring birth certificates to reflect an Iowan’s sex at birth as either male or female. It would also redefine “sex” to mean “the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth”, echoing the executive order recently signed by President Donald Trump.
The bill is now in the hands of Governor Kim Reynolds, who is expected to sign it into law, ending 18 years of state law protection for transgender Iowans.
Following the votes in the House and Senate, people in the public gallery erupted into boos and shouts of “shame!” in protest over the bill, while some shouted “fascist scumbags” at those voting in favour of the legislation.
BREAKING: Trans rights activists are protesting at the Iowa State Capitol.
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) February 27, 2025
Far right X users are claiming they “stormed the Capitol building. THIS IS A LIE.
– Notice that they ARE permitted to be there.
– There is NO violence.
– NO police have been attacked.
– NO gun… pic.twitter.com/awuHzwxo6f
Democrat lawmakers in Iowa were overwhelmingly against the bill, warning Republicans that history wouldn’t look kindly on them for voting this bill in. Only five Republicans voted against the bill.
Democratic Representative Aime Wichtendahl, the first openly transgender member of the Iowa legislature, spoke out vehemently against the bill, saying that it would revoke “protections to our jobs, our homes and our ability to access credit”.
“In other words, it deprives us of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The purpose of this bill and the purpose of every anti-trans bill is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence. The sum total of every anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bill is to make our existence illegal,” she said.
Kamala Harris started a resistance.
— Winter’s Politics 🖤 (@WintersPolitics) February 27, 2025
People are protesting an anti- trans bill in Iowa. Chants of "we won't go back". pic.twitter.com/FDGf7nmkHW
In contrast, Republican representative Steven Holt claimed that the bill would have no effect on the rights of transgender Iowans.
“In spite of loud proclamations otherwise, transgender Iowans will have the same rights and protections as everyone else, as they should. But the removal of gender identity as a protected class will prevent the infringement on the rights of others, particularly women, who stand to be erased, along with decades of gains toward equality,” he explained.
Holt has also said federal laws like the Fair Housing Act and the U.S Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock decision will continue to protect transgender people in Iowa from discrimination in employment and housing.
But, this could come under attack in light of anti-trans executive orders signed by Trump while Supreme Court decisions could be overturned in the future.
Iowa House Minority leader Jennifer Knofrst made a similar argument, saying: “Do not tell me the federal government will save us because they’re already attacking the communities we’re attacking today as well.”
She added that the “majority party” is “taking away the freedom of our fellow Iowans to live the lives they want to live”.
Mayor Bruce Teague of Iowa City lead a crowd of Iowans in song to protest the trans civil rights removal bill. pic.twitter.com/oOV6wnX4bW
— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) February 27, 2025
Many transgender Iowans are now scared of what will happen if the bill is signed into law. One trans resident told the Des Moines Register that they were considering leaving Iowa as a result, though he was gratified to see so many people come out to protest the bill.
Several cisgender Iowans also told the Des Moines Register that they felt it was important to attend the protest in support of trans people in their state.
Rachel Gulick, a longtime Iowa resident, said they felt like they are “watching the murder of America by Americans”.
This is not the first time Iowa has tabled an anti-trans bill, and it’s likely to not be the last.
In 2023, Iowa’s Republican-led state legislature sought to ban the disciplining of students and staff who deadname trans people in school.
The bill was described as a “bill to allow the bullying of trans students” and was one of 21 bills targeting LGBTQ+ people that Governor Kim Reynolds and GOP lawmakers proposed that year alone.
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