The Iowa Civil Rights Act would be changed by removing gender identity as a protected class, and by adding gender dysphoria to disabilities covered by the act, under legislation that will be considered by state lawmakers next week at the Iowa Capitol.
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Created in 1965, the Iowa Civil Rights Act prevents discrimination based on identifying characteristics like age, race, color, religion, national origin, or disability. The Act was amended in 2007 to add sexual orientation and gender identity.
Rep. Jeff Shipley (R-Birmingham)
A bill introduced by Iowa state lawmaker Jeff Shipley, a Republican from Birmingham, would remove gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
Shipley’s bill would instead add to the act’s covered disabilities gender dysphoria, which the American Psychiatric Association defines as psychological distress that results when an individual has a gender identity that is different from their sex at birth.
Advocates for transgender people expressed their vehement opposition to the proposal.
“Oh, it’s horrible. I mean, it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” said Keenan Crow, with the LGBTQ advocacy organization One Iowa.
The proposed bill, House File 2082, would need to move through the Iowa House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Denison.
A 2020 proposal simply to remove gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act did not advance through Holt’s committee that year. This time, Holt told the Des Moines Register that he wants to hear the conversation around the new proposal from Shipley, calling it “an interesting concept.”
“I just want to hear a conversation about it. I want to have a subcommittee (hearing) and hear a conversation about it,” Holt told the Register. “I still have concerns about this, but I at least want to have the conversation and see where it goes.”
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The subcommittee hearing -- the first step in Iowa’s state lawmaking process -- is scheduled for Wednesday at the Iowa Capitol.
Iowa Rep. Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who will represent his party on the subcommittee’s legislative panel, said the proposal is “terrible” for multiple reasons, including the way the bill removes gender identity from the act’s protections but includes gender dysphoria among protected disabilities.
“First off, it’s insulting,” Scheetz said. “To characterize people who are nonbinary and transgender as having a mental illness, essentially, which is what it does, to say that they're disabled mentally for being themselves, I think is just wrong.”
Scheetz and Crow said the proposal likely would not provide the same legal protections to transgender Iowans as the current Civil Rights Act. Crow noted that not all transgender people are diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Keenan Crow, One Iowa (Photo Submitted)
“Being transgender and having gender dysphoria are two separate things. There are a decent amount of trans people that have gender dysphoria, and a decent amount of trans people who don’t have gender dysphoria,” Crow said. “So you’re going to leave out that entire group of people who has no need for a diagnosis.”
Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, the leader of the minority-party Democrats in the Iowa House, called the proposal “hateful,” “unnecessary,” and said there is a “huge risk for unintended consequence.” She said amending the Iowa Civil Rights Act in this way would be “the exact opposite of the spirit of who Iowans are and what Iowans want.”
Statehouse Republicans in the past two legislative sessions have passed a series of new laws impacting transgender and other LGBTQ Iowans, including a ban on gender transition treatments and surgeries for minors, a ban on the teaching of gender identity or sexual orientation through sixth grade, a ban on transgender students using K-12 school bathrooms that align with their gender identity by requiring students to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender at birth, and a ban on transgender girls competing in girls sports.
www.thegazette.com
ADVERTISING
Created in 1965, the Iowa Civil Rights Act prevents discrimination based on identifying characteristics like age, race, color, religion, national origin, or disability. The Act was amended in 2007 to add sexual orientation and gender identity.
A bill introduced by Iowa state lawmaker Jeff Shipley, a Republican from Birmingham, would remove gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
Shipley’s bill would instead add to the act’s covered disabilities gender dysphoria, which the American Psychiatric Association defines as psychological distress that results when an individual has a gender identity that is different from their sex at birth.
Advocates for transgender people expressed their vehement opposition to the proposal.
“Oh, it’s horrible. I mean, it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” said Keenan Crow, with the LGBTQ advocacy organization One Iowa.
The proposed bill, House File 2082, would need to move through the Iowa House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Denison.
A 2020 proposal simply to remove gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act did not advance through Holt’s committee that year. This time, Holt told the Des Moines Register that he wants to hear the conversation around the new proposal from Shipley, calling it “an interesting concept.”
“I just want to hear a conversation about it. I want to have a subcommittee (hearing) and hear a conversation about it,” Holt told the Register. “I still have concerns about this, but I at least want to have the conversation and see where it goes.”
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The subcommittee hearing -- the first step in Iowa’s state lawmaking process -- is scheduled for Wednesday at the Iowa Capitol.
Iowa Rep. Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who will represent his party on the subcommittee’s legislative panel, said the proposal is “terrible” for multiple reasons, including the way the bill removes gender identity from the act’s protections but includes gender dysphoria among protected disabilities.
“First off, it’s insulting,” Scheetz said. “To characterize people who are nonbinary and transgender as having a mental illness, essentially, which is what it does, to say that they're disabled mentally for being themselves, I think is just wrong.”
Scheetz and Crow said the proposal likely would not provide the same legal protections to transgender Iowans as the current Civil Rights Act. Crow noted that not all transgender people are diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
“Being transgender and having gender dysphoria are two separate things. There are a decent amount of trans people that have gender dysphoria, and a decent amount of trans people who don’t have gender dysphoria,” Crow said. “So you’re going to leave out that entire group of people who has no need for a diagnosis.”
Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, the leader of the minority-party Democrats in the Iowa House, called the proposal “hateful,” “unnecessary,” and said there is a “huge risk for unintended consequence.” She said amending the Iowa Civil Rights Act in this way would be “the exact opposite of the spirit of who Iowans are and what Iowans want.”
Statehouse Republicans in the past two legislative sessions have passed a series of new laws impacting transgender and other LGBTQ Iowans, including a ban on gender transition treatments and surgeries for minors, a ban on the teaching of gender identity or sexual orientation through sixth grade, a ban on transgender students using K-12 school bathrooms that align with their gender identity by requiring students to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender at birth, and a ban on transgender girls competing in girls sports.
Removing gender identity from Iowa Civil Rights Act proposed by Iowa House Republican
The proposed legislation, which opponents called ‘hateful’ and ‘horrible,’ also would add gender dysphoria to a list of disabilities covered by the Civil Rights Act.
www.thegazette.com
