By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill on Thursday that would remove protections for the transgender community even as dozens of protesters opposed the legislation.
The bill aims to strip Iowa’s civil rights code of protections based on gender identity. If Iowa’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signs the bill into law, it would become the first state to do so.
The move comes as transgender and non-binary rights have been put in the crosshairs in the United States, with Republican U.S. President Donald Trump signing several executive orders limiting transgender rights since taking over the White House on January 20.
His orders aim to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs; demand government employees refer only to “sex” and not “gender;” and declare gender to be an “immutable biological reality” that precludes any change in gender identity.
Civil rights and LGBT advocates say the Iowa bill would leave the transgender community vulnerable to discrimination. The bill aims to abolish gender identity as a protected class and define female and male along with gender, which it says will be a synonym for sex.
The bill says gender “shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.”
The Iowa House and Senate voted in favor of the legislation on Thursday. Gender identity was added to Iowa’s civil rights code in 2007. At the time, the Democratic Party controlled the legislature.
Demonstrators opposed the bill, chanting slogans like “say no to hate” and holding banners that read “trans rights are human rights.”
Supporters of the bill say it is a way of preserving women’s rights. Rights advocates have been critical of Republicans over women’s rights, including over abortion measures.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Gerry Doyle)
