Sometimes, bad, convoluted and spiteful legislation does die under the Golden Dome of Wisdom, now redder than ever. Amazing, but true.
It happened Wednesday when a House Judiciary Subcommittee declined to advance a bill that would have removed “gender identity” from the list of protected classes under Iowa’s Civil Rights Code. Instead, its sponsor, Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, sought to offer legal protections only for Iowans diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Never mind that gender dysphoria is worsened by the marginalization and isolation of transgender Iowans. And the panel was told repeatedly that not all transgender people suffer from dysphoria. Shipley, who is not mental health expert but may have a junior behavioral scientist decoder ring, thinks all transgender people are mentally ill. Because being transgender, he argues, is “make believe.”
But two Republicans and a Democrat on the subcommittee, for varying reasons, let the bill die. The decision was cheered by LGBTQ Iowans and allies, who thought, just maybe, the legislative onslaught aimed at persecuting 0.29% of Iowa’s population might have run its course.
But then, on Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said, “Hold my Fresca.”
The governor introduced an even more convoluted bill.
It defines “sex,” “man” and “woman” in a way that leaves little room for the legal existence of transgender people. It requires the birth-gender of transgender Iowans to be listed on government documents, such as driver’s licenses and birth certificates. Domestic violence and rape crises centers and other government-owned, operated or funded facilities could be required to create separate spaces for men and women, ignoring their gender identity.
The bill says, “The term ‘equal’ does not mean ‘same’ or ‘identical.’” And “Separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”
So accommodations for transgender people can be separate but equal, but not necessarily identical. When will the LGBTQ water fountains be installed?
“Over and over again, the focus at the Statehouse seems to be on relegating LGBTQ Iowans to second-class status,” Courtney Reyes, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa, said in a statement. “We have had enough. We showed up in massive numbers to stop the attack on our trans siblings, and we will show up again if this harmful legislation moves a single step forward.”
But the governor insists she’s protecting women.
“It’s unfortunate that defining a woman in code has become necessary to protect spaces where women’s health, safety, and privacy are being threatened like domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers. The bill allows the law to recognize biological differences while forbidding unfair discrimination,” the governor said in a statement.
Shipley and Reynolds want us to be very afraid of that 0.29 percent. They’re the real threat. They’re the real bullies, deviant and mentally ill. They need to be separated from all of us normal, God-fearing folk who have become exceedingly uncomfortable with their very existence.
“You seem to think that being trans is some kind of ideology, so I will say it plain,” said Hiawatha City Council member Aime Wichtendahl, who is transgender. “There is no such thing as transgenderism, there is only transgender people. We are human beings. We are American citizens. We are Iowans. And we do not deserve this abuse that we are getting from our government.”
During the subcommittee meeting, Shipley pointed to a 2021 incident when a male transgender teenager swam without a shirt, scandalizing the Dutch enclave of Pella.
“I can understand why creepy old men are so adamant to protect their rights to expose their scrotums, and of trans-teenagers to expose their breasts. But I don’t understand how that supersedes the rights of others to enjoy public amenities, or how this is really in any child’s best interest,” he said.
Yeah, he lost me on the whole scrotum thing, but Shipley was on a roll.
And yet, he was seemingly stunned by the reception he received in the hallway outside the meeting room, where dozens of LGBTQ Iowans and allies had been monitoring a livestream of the subcommittee deliberations. “Bless you, J Dawg,” some shouted.
OK, they didn’t say “bless.” It was another word. Rhymes with “truck.”
Now, I can’t condone hurling obscenities in our Capitol’s hallowed halls. But what’s worse is obscene legislation that will harm Iowans, stoke hatred and turn the state into a discriminatory pariah.
Elliot Sutton, a 17-year-old nonbinary student at Ankeny High School, told the subcommittee this sort of “terrifying” legislation will drive young people out of Iowa.
“It’s just not a very safe place for me to live in a lot of ways,” they said. “I mean they want to hold a session to discuss whether I should have rights.”
All this pain is being inflicted to sustain a grift.
Religious conservatives once tried to make it illegal for same-sex couples to adopt kids. Then they went to war against same-sex marriages. The issue filled their coffers, raised their visibility and charged up their political clout. But then the Iowa Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land.
When your movement is fueled by fear, you must find an enemy. Now it’s transgender Iowans. Gender identity has been protected in Iowa since 2007, but, suddenly, this tiny group of Iowans is an existential threat to Western civilization. Demonizing and dehumanizing the “other” is a proven vote-getter.
When this hate festival has run its course, who will be next? I’m sure they’ll think of something.
So, we dodged being the first state in U.S. history to remove civil rights protections from a protected class. But now we may become the “separate but equal” state.
Remember Iowa’s proud tradition of being head of the curve on civil rights? Now we’re careening past the curve and into the abyss. Amazing, but true.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
It happened Wednesday when a House Judiciary Subcommittee declined to advance a bill that would have removed “gender identity” from the list of protected classes under Iowa’s Civil Rights Code. Instead, its sponsor, Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, sought to offer legal protections only for Iowans diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Never mind that gender dysphoria is worsened by the marginalization and isolation of transgender Iowans. And the panel was told repeatedly that not all transgender people suffer from dysphoria. Shipley, who is not mental health expert but may have a junior behavioral scientist decoder ring, thinks all transgender people are mentally ill. Because being transgender, he argues, is “make believe.”
But two Republicans and a Democrat on the subcommittee, for varying reasons, let the bill die. The decision was cheered by LGBTQ Iowans and allies, who thought, just maybe, the legislative onslaught aimed at persecuting 0.29% of Iowa’s population might have run its course.
But then, on Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said, “Hold my Fresca.”
The governor introduced an even more convoluted bill.
It defines “sex,” “man” and “woman” in a way that leaves little room for the legal existence of transgender people. It requires the birth-gender of transgender Iowans to be listed on government documents, such as driver’s licenses and birth certificates. Domestic violence and rape crises centers and other government-owned, operated or funded facilities could be required to create separate spaces for men and women, ignoring their gender identity.
The bill says, “The term ‘equal’ does not mean ‘same’ or ‘identical.’” And “Separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”
So accommodations for transgender people can be separate but equal, but not necessarily identical. When will the LGBTQ water fountains be installed?
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“Over and over again, the focus at the Statehouse seems to be on relegating LGBTQ Iowans to second-class status,” Courtney Reyes, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa, said in a statement. “We have had enough. We showed up in massive numbers to stop the attack on our trans siblings, and we will show up again if this harmful legislation moves a single step forward.”
But the governor insists she’s protecting women.
“It’s unfortunate that defining a woman in code has become necessary to protect spaces where women’s health, safety, and privacy are being threatened like domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers. The bill allows the law to recognize biological differences while forbidding unfair discrimination,” the governor said in a statement.
Shipley and Reynolds want us to be very afraid of that 0.29 percent. They’re the real threat. They’re the real bullies, deviant and mentally ill. They need to be separated from all of us normal, God-fearing folk who have become exceedingly uncomfortable with their very existence.
“You seem to think that being trans is some kind of ideology, so I will say it plain,” said Hiawatha City Council member Aime Wichtendahl, who is transgender. “There is no such thing as transgenderism, there is only transgender people. We are human beings. We are American citizens. We are Iowans. And we do not deserve this abuse that we are getting from our government.”
During the subcommittee meeting, Shipley pointed to a 2021 incident when a male transgender teenager swam without a shirt, scandalizing the Dutch enclave of Pella.
“I can understand why creepy old men are so adamant to protect their rights to expose their scrotums, and of trans-teenagers to expose their breasts. But I don’t understand how that supersedes the rights of others to enjoy public amenities, or how this is really in any child’s best interest,” he said.
Yeah, he lost me on the whole scrotum thing, but Shipley was on a roll.
And yet, he was seemingly stunned by the reception he received in the hallway outside the meeting room, where dozens of LGBTQ Iowans and allies had been monitoring a livestream of the subcommittee deliberations. “Bless you, J Dawg,” some shouted.
OK, they didn’t say “bless.” It was another word. Rhymes with “truck.”
Now, I can’t condone hurling obscenities in our Capitol’s hallowed halls. But what’s worse is obscene legislation that will harm Iowans, stoke hatred and turn the state into a discriminatory pariah.
Elliot Sutton, a 17-year-old nonbinary student at Ankeny High School, told the subcommittee this sort of “terrifying” legislation will drive young people out of Iowa.
“It’s just not a very safe place for me to live in a lot of ways,” they said. “I mean they want to hold a session to discuss whether I should have rights.”
All this pain is being inflicted to sustain a grift.
Religious conservatives once tried to make it illegal for same-sex couples to adopt kids. Then they went to war against same-sex marriages. The issue filled their coffers, raised their visibility and charged up their political clout. But then the Iowa Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land.
When your movement is fueled by fear, you must find an enemy. Now it’s transgender Iowans. Gender identity has been protected in Iowa since 2007, but, suddenly, this tiny group of Iowans is an existential threat to Western civilization. Demonizing and dehumanizing the “other” is a proven vote-getter.
When this hate festival has run its course, who will be next? I’m sure they’ll think of something.
So, we dodged being the first state in U.S. history to remove civil rights protections from a protected class. But now we may become the “separate but equal” state.
Remember Iowa’s proud tradition of being head of the curve on civil rights? Now we’re careening past the curve and into the abyss. Amazing, but true.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
Opinion: After a brief intermission, welcome back to Iowa’s culture war
Demonstrators opposed to House File 2082 confront Iowa state Rep. Jeff Shipley following a Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill …
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