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Iowa becomes first state to remove civil rights protections
Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday signed into law legislation removing civil rights protections for transgender Iowans
Feb. 28, 2025 4:02 pm, Updated: Mar. 2, 2025 8:14 am
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Iowa will become the first state in the nation to remove a protected class from a state’s civil rights act.
Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday signed into law legislation passed Thursday by Republican majorities in the Iowa House and Senate that weakens legal protections for transgender Iowans. The law takes effect July 1.
Senate File 418 removes gender identity as a protected class from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, strikes the definition of gender identity in state law and creates new legal definitions of male and female based on reproductive organs at birth. The bill also creates a new definition for gender, which would be considered a synonym for sex and “shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.”
Reynolds, in a video posted to X (formerly Twitter), said the legislation “safeguards the rights of women and girls”
“It’s common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women,” the governor said. “In fact, it’s necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls” by ensuring transgender women are not in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, domestic violence shelters, prisons, rape crisis centers and athletics.
Attorneys, school safety advocates, legal experts and civil rights activists, however, note there is a lack of documented evidence in Iowa of transgender individuals, or men pretending to be transgender, harassing or attacking women in bathrooms, locker rooms, restrooms or other places.
Reynolds and Republican lawmakers argued that transgender protections in the Civil Rights Act endanger state laws they passed in recent years that ban gender transition care for children under the age of 18, prohibit transgender girls from playing in girls sports and prohibit transgender students from using school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
Supporters of the legislation have pointed to the Iowa courts’ determination in 2023 that the state’s attempt to ban Medicaid coverage for gender transition surgery was unconstitutional. A judge cited the inclusion of gender identity in the Iowa Civil Rights Act in his ruling.
“Before I signed this bill, the civil rights code blurred biological line between the sexes,” Reynolds said. “It has also forced Iowa taxpayers to pay for gender reassignment surgeries, and that is unacceptable to me and it’s unacceptable to most Iowans.”
Reynolds criticized “misinformation” about what the bill does.
“The truth is that it simply brings Iowa in line with the federal Civil Rights Code, as well as most states,” the governor said. “We all agree that every Iowan, without exception, deserves respect and dignity.”
Twenty-three states — including Iowa — and the District of Columbia prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ rights organization. Additional states have adopted a federal legal framework that says gender identity discrimination is prohibited under federal sex-based employment protections.
Iowa’s Supreme Court, though, has rejected the argument that discrimination based on sex includes discrimination based on gender identity.
The law would be the first legislative action in the United States to remove non-discrimination protections based on gender identity, according to Lambda Legal, a national legal organization working for the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people.
The unprecedented move repeals protections for transgender Iowans against discrimination in housing, employment, lending, public accommodations and more.
Gender identity was added to the Iowa Civil Rights Act in 2007 when Democrats controlled the governorship and both chambers of the Iowa Legislature. Today, Republicans have complete control of the state’s lawmaking process.
Civil rights groups, faith leaders and community organizations said the legislation will make Iowa a less competitive, less welcoming place to live and work — erasing decades of progress and tarnishing Iowa’s legacy as a leader in civil rights.
“Governor Reynolds has chosen to put Iowa on the wrong side of history," Max Mowitz, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy organization One Iowa said in a statement. "... This law sends a devastating message: that transgender Iowans are not worthy of the same rights, dignity, and protections as their neighbors.
“No one should have to live in fear of being denied housing, fired from their job, or excluded from public life simply because of who they are,” Mowitz said. “Transgender Iowans are part of every community in this state — our families, our workplaces, our schools, our places of worship. They deserve the same safety, stability, and opportunity as anyone else.”
Republicans fast-tracked legislation, passing it in one week
Republican lawmakers fast-tracked the legislation through the legislative process, passing it through both chambers and sending it to Reynolds’ desk for her signature one week after the bill was made public.
Hundreds people packed shoulder-to-shoulder into the Iowa Capitol Rotunda Thursday in a massive, emotionally charged protests by opponents.
For hours, they chanted and sang while individuals addressed the legislation during a 90-minute public hearing in the morning and then while lawmakers debated the proposal in the afternoon.
Protesters who watched the votes from the House and Senate galleries angrily yelled and shouted obscenities and “Shame!” as the chambers adjourned. One individual who shouting obscenities at legislators refused to move and was carried out of the gallery by multiple Iowa State Patrol officers.
Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, a Democrat from Hiawatha and the Iowa Legislature’s first openly transgender member, became emotional during debate on the House floor as she offered her personal story as a transgender woman.
Wichtendahl said gender identity protections in the Iowa Civil Rights Act helped save her from discrimination, including by keeping her home and her job. She shared that she considered taking her life before she transitioned.
The purpose of this bill and the purpose of every anti-trans bill is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence,” Wichtendahl said. “The sum total of every anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bill is to make our existence illegal.”
What the new law will do
In addition to eliminating legal protections granted by the inclusion of gender identity in the Iowa Civil Rights Act, the bill also will:
- Strike the definition of gender identity in state law;
- Create a new section in state law to define “sex and related terms,” and define “female” as an individual who has, will have or would have “but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident,” a reproductive system that produces ova and “male” as an individual who produces sperm;
- State that the term “equal” does not mean “same” or “identical” and that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.” The language echoes that associated with the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which declared segregation on the basis of race to be legal;
- Require all state and local government data collection to identify individuals as either male or female;
- Eliminate the ability for transgender Iowans to change their birth certificate. Current law allows this if the person’s doctor certifies that their sex has changed due to surgery or other treatment.
Keenan Crow, director of policy and advocacy with One Iowa, said under the change in law Iowa landlords, employers and lenders will be able to deny housing, employment, benefits, fair wages and loans to Iowans based on their gender identity.
Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Denison who managed the bill in the House, asserted transgender individuals still will be protected from housing and employment discrimination under a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed the federal prohibition on sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Crow, who uses they/them pronouns, pushed back on the claim, saying protections for gender identity are needed just as much as other protections included in the Iowa Civil Rights Act against discrimination based on sex, race, disability and other characteristics.
“It is not sufficient to say that constitutional protections have the same effect as the statutory protections in the Iowa Civil Rights Act,” Crow said.
Crow noted Iowa law provides protections against employment discrimination for employers with fewer than 15 employees who are not subject to federal employment rules. The smaller business now would be able to fire, not hire, or pay lower wages to people they perceive to be or who are openly transgender.
“And that’s just one component of this terrible legislation,” they said.
The law defines “sex” as “the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth,” and would prevent transgender Iowans from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates.
The ban on changing birth certificates would prohibit transgender Iowans from obtaining driver’s licenses, passports and other identification and government documents that describe who they are, effectively erasing any recognition of their gender identity.
Doing so invites discrimination and further outing of transgender individuals and people who are perceived to be transgender because they look too masculine or too feminine, Crow said.
Business groups that previously spoke out remain silent
When former Gov. Chet Culver signed the law adding gender identity and sexual orientation to the Iowa Civil Rights Act in 2007, he did so at Principal Financial Group’s offices in downtown Des Moines, the Des Moines Register reported.
Companies like Principal and business organizations like the Iowa Chamber Alliance, the Iowa Business Council, Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance and the Greater Des Moines Partnership had previously registered in opposition to similar bills removing gender identity as a protected class but did not do so this year.
The Iowa Chamber Alliance, which represents the state's largest chambers of commerce, registered as undecided on this year’s bill. Principal, the Iowa Business Council, the Greater Des Moines Partnership and Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance did not register on the legislation.
Lobbyists and spokespeople for Principal and the Greater Des Moines Partnership did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
Dustin Miller, executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, said members shared differing perspectives about the bill, and “ultimately there was not a push from the membership to engage in it this year.”
In the past, Chamber Alliance members saw direct threats to Iowa business based on threats made by organizations like the NCAA to pull events and tournaments away from states that passed anti-transgender legislation, which stoked fears among Iowa business leaders of losing lucrative events and curtailing tourism in the state.
This year, Miller said chamber alliance members did not see a direct threat to communities from the legislation. Miller said the reticence from business leaders was unrelated to President Donald Trump’s efforts to combat “gender ideology” and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the federal level.
Joe Murphy, president of the Iowa Business Council, said the legislation won’t change its members’ treatment of Iowans.
“The members of the Iowa Business Council, as we always have, will continue to provide a welcoming, safe, and supportive environment for every employee in Iowa and beyond," Murphy said in a statement to The Gazette.
The Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, in a statement, said it “is deeply concerned by the speed at which SF 418 moved through the legislature and the potential long-term consequences this legislation could have on Iowa’s future workforce.”
“As a business organization, we carefully evaluate and weigh in on legislation that directly impacts businesses and the workforce,” the Economic Alliance said. “We engage strategically, focusing our efforts where we believe we can make a meaningful difference, such as two years ago when we considered a different bill in a different political landscape."
Crow said Iowa business leaders “have abdicated their responsibility to Iowans,” and are “being penny wise and pound-foolish with their own workforce.”
“We need to make Iowa a more welcoming environment to attract and retain world-class talent in our state,” they said. “This year it seems like either the workforce concerns no longer exist or LGBTQ people are no longer a priority for their workforce. If they think they’re going to just try to play neutral in this fight and just not say anything and that nobody will notice, I assure you LGBTQ Iowans notice. And their dollars and their attention will be redirected accordingly.”
Erin Murphy and Maya Marchel Hoff of The Gazette’s Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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