Federal education officials want to protect LGBTQ students from discrimination in school. Gov. Kim Reynolds can’t stand it.
At issue is Title IX, the 1972 federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in K-12 schools and higher education. The U.S. Department of Education is expanding the definition of sex discrimination to include sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.
The governor, whose favorite political pastime is kicking around transgender students, is incensed the Biden administration would shield them from discrimination, bullying and harassment. After all, Reynolds worked overtime to scare us into believing transgender students can’s use restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their sexual identity. This year, she tried and failed to put definitions of man and woman in the Iowa Code that would, basically, erase their existence in the eyes of the law.
Reynolds said the Title IX change is “marginalizing girls and women,” while vowing to “protect the rights of women of all ages.” She accused President Biden of caving to the “radical left.” And she called on “her” Attorney General Brenna Bird to take legal action. Bird plans to do just that.
Of course, this is a governor who is fixated on girls’ bathrooms but would yank away their basic right to bodily autonomy. The governor has championed a six-week abortion ban, cutting off access before most women know they are pregnant. Under Reynolds’s leadership, young women will be forced to give birth. Are you in an abusive relationship or face other heartbreaking circumstances? Tough darts.
The governor only cares about women’s rights when it gives her a chance to score political points by bullying transgender kids.
Reynolds expanded Medicaid postpartum care from 60 days to one year but lowered the income eligibility threshold so 1,700 women and babies will no longer be able to access care.
If Iowa would ever raise its minimum wage, more than 60% of the Iowans who would benefit are women.
Reynolds could have helped a lot of moms by accepting $29 million in extra summer federal food aid for kids. Instead, she turned the money down and introduced her own paltry program.
But the most pressing issue is who goes where to the bathroom.
Reynolds blames the radical left. But the expansion sounds a lot like what’s already in Iowa’s civil rights code, which also bars discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The expansion was approved way back in 2007, nearly 17 years ago.
It was pushed to passage with critical help from Republican lawmakers. After majority Democrats agreed to adopt a largely symbolic amendment saying the bill would not open the door to same-sex marriages, it passed the House with 59 votes, including nine Republicans who pushed it over the top.
In the Iowa Senate, the final bill passed 34-16 with six Republicans on board, including the late great Mary Lundby of Marion.
So, what was bipartisan 17 years ago is now radical.
Rarely have so many heaped so much derision on so few. According to a 2022 estimate by the Williams Institute at the UCLA College of Law, 2,100 Iowans between the ages of 13 and 17 were transgender in 2022. There are more than 480,000 kids in Iowa public schools.
The governor would have us believe these kids are a dire threat. But the real threat is a governor who is unafraid to use her power to persecute Iowans. The question is who is next?
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
www.thegazette.com
At issue is Title IX, the 1972 federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in K-12 schools and higher education. The U.S. Department of Education is expanding the definition of sex discrimination to include sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.
The governor, whose favorite political pastime is kicking around transgender students, is incensed the Biden administration would shield them from discrimination, bullying and harassment. After all, Reynolds worked overtime to scare us into believing transgender students can’s use restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their sexual identity. This year, she tried and failed to put definitions of man and woman in the Iowa Code that would, basically, erase their existence in the eyes of the law.
Reynolds said the Title IX change is “marginalizing girls and women,” while vowing to “protect the rights of women of all ages.” She accused President Biden of caving to the “radical left.” And she called on “her” Attorney General Brenna Bird to take legal action. Bird plans to do just that.
Of course, this is a governor who is fixated on girls’ bathrooms but would yank away their basic right to bodily autonomy. The governor has championed a six-week abortion ban, cutting off access before most women know they are pregnant. Under Reynolds’s leadership, young women will be forced to give birth. Are you in an abusive relationship or face other heartbreaking circumstances? Tough darts.
The governor only cares about women’s rights when it gives her a chance to score political points by bullying transgender kids.
Reynolds expanded Medicaid postpartum care from 60 days to one year but lowered the income eligibility threshold so 1,700 women and babies will no longer be able to access care.
If Iowa would ever raise its minimum wage, more than 60% of the Iowans who would benefit are women.
Reynolds could have helped a lot of moms by accepting $29 million in extra summer federal food aid for kids. Instead, she turned the money down and introduced her own paltry program.
But the most pressing issue is who goes where to the bathroom.
Reynolds blames the radical left. But the expansion sounds a lot like what’s already in Iowa’s civil rights code, which also bars discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The expansion was approved way back in 2007, nearly 17 years ago.
It was pushed to passage with critical help from Republican lawmakers. After majority Democrats agreed to adopt a largely symbolic amendment saying the bill would not open the door to same-sex marriages, it passed the House with 59 votes, including nine Republicans who pushed it over the top.
In the Iowa Senate, the final bill passed 34-16 with six Republicans on board, including the late great Mary Lundby of Marion.
So, what was bipartisan 17 years ago is now radical.
Rarely have so many heaped so much derision on so few. According to a 2022 estimate by the Williams Institute at the UCLA College of Law, 2,100 Iowans between the ages of 13 and 17 were transgender in 2022. There are more than 480,000 kids in Iowa public schools.
The governor would have us believe these kids are a dire threat. But the real threat is a governor who is unafraid to use her power to persecute Iowans. The question is who is next?
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
Opinion: Title IX change raises Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ ire
The governor cares about women’s rights when she can score political points by bullying transgender kids
www.thegazette.com
