Iowa youth speak out as LGBTQ school bills advance: ‘Why are we not past this?’

DES MOINES — Republican state lawmakers continued Thursday to advance bills opponents say target and discriminate against Iowa’s LGBTQ community.

Supporters contend the legislation protects religious freedoms, parents’ rights and children from obscene books and materials and school policies that address issues of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Lawmakers held hearings and advanced bills Thursday that would:

SSB 1145, proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds that deals with instruction around gender identity and sexual activity, also would require written approval by parents at least one week before administering any exam or survey assessing a student's mental, emotional or physical health, unless that assessment is required by state or federal law.

Schools violating any portion of the law relating to parental consent would receive a written warning from the Department of Education for the first offense and a $5,000 fine for each subsequent offense. The money would be used to train school employees.

Supporters argued that the topic of gender identity should be exclusive to parents and their children — and not discussed in public schools.

“I wholeheartedly appreciate this bill, as it protects the innocence of children up to third grade,” said Patty Alexander, a retired teacher from Indianola. “ … Schools need to be a neutral, safe space in which outside social and political pressures have no place.”

Supporters, including Christian conservative advocacy organization The Family Leader, too, say such measures keep parents informed about a student’s gender identity.

Critics contend the measures endangers the safety, welfare and autonomy of transgender and gender-fluid youth, and adds to existing stigma and discrimination of LGBTQ youth, who already face higher health and suicide risks than their peers.

Noa McIver, 11, of Des Moines, who founded a gender sexuality alliance at his elementary school, told lawmakers “all kids deserve to feel safe in school.”

LGBTQ advocates say the parental notification requirements could effectively require teachers to “out” LGBTQ students grappling with their personal identity.

“All kids should be able to grow and learn about who they are,” Noa said. “It’s important to let kids decide when and how they come out. … We deserve the right to be who we are at home, at school and everywhere in between.”

Organizations representing Iowa school boards, administrators and teachers note the bill forces them to violate both state and federal law, including Title IX, that prohibits gender-based discrimination and harassment in any school or education program.

Timber Stevens, a cis-gender heterosexual male middle school student from West Des Moines with a gender-fluid sibling, spoke of hearing homophobic slurs used at his school.

“This bill targets a marginalized group — why are we not past this?” Timber told lawmakers of HF 367. “As a society, we need to hold our educators accountable. Learning a student’s pronouns are the bare minimum, along with their name and gender. I would like to remind those in support of this bill that everyone, even cisgender people, have pronouns.”

Iowa parents, many activists with the group Moms for Liberty, have also urged lawmaker to implement more restrictions and parental permission for school books they find obscene and divisive. Nearly all of the library materials recently challenged in the state deal with issues of sexual orientation, racism and gender identity.

Representatives of Iowa schools said they're tasked with considering the value of books as a whole, including their artistic and educational value, not just certain passages.

Books are chosen after careful consideration, including seeking out and reading multiple book reviews, said Michelle Kruse, a middle school teacher librarian from Cedar Rapids and president of the Iowa Association of School librarians.

“How can one school district possible make the best decision for the students of another school district?” Kruse asked.

But Samantha Fett, a former school board member and Carlisle parent, said the bill provides consistency statewide as to the school library materials students can access.

“It’s not banning (books), it just has parental permission,” Fett said.

Iowa Senate President Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, who voted to advance the governor’s bill to the full education committee, said “parents are the governing authority on how their child’s educated — period.”

Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, said the governor’s bill seeks to “solve an imaginary problem with heavy-handed requirements that go against basic Iowa values, like freedom, respect and kindness.”

“There is no one in the state of Iowa that would like parents more involved in their child’s education than Iowa’s public school teachers,” he said.

Caleb McCullough of The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.

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