In final days of session, agreement on banning trans athletes escapes Iowa lawmakers

DES MOINES — Calling it a “fairness issue,” Gov. Kim Reynolds called for a state law to prohibit transgender students from competing in girls’ sports.

There was interest among lawmakers, but as they tied up the loose ends of the legislative session, the Republican majority never found a consensus on fulfilling Reynolds’s request.

“It was a matter of process — whether the language wasn't right or there wasn't support at the time,” Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said Thursday morning, just hours after legislators ended their 129-day session.

“We really had to focus on what we had been working on for the entire session to make sure that we didn't lose sight of things like ensuring our income tax cuts were delivered to Iowans, ensuring that mental health funding was done and that we're reducing property taxes,” Whitver said.

“We just had a lot of other things on our agenda,” House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said shortly after midnight Wednesday. “I don't think we ever got to a point where everyone was comfortable with what that would look like right now.”

In early May, Reynolds said she would sign a bill to ban biological males who identify as female from participating in girls’ athletics.

“It’s an issue in fairness,” she said. “Do we have women’s and girls’ sports or not?”

Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reynolds’ position was one that Rep. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, took in March when she offered a “Save Women’s Sports” amendment to House File 847 to ban transgender students from participating in girls’ sports.

Transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Boys and girls are equal “but not interchangeable,” Salmon said.

“A boy may believe he is a girl, but that doesn’t cancel out his physical advantages. To pretend otherwise is naive,” she said before withdrawing her amendment.

Iowa is among the majority of states that have considered such bans. At least 35 bills have been offered in 31 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That’s up from two in each of the previous two years. Idaho, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas have enacted bans.

Proponents for the legislation say that transgender women and girls have a physical advantage over those who identify with the sex assigned at birth.

The issue won’t go away because the legislative session is over. It will be part of the conversations between now and the 2022 session, Grassley said.

“I think we just want to make sure the House, Senate and the governor are all on the same page,” he said.

Keenan Crow, policy and advocacy director for One Iowa, which advocates for LGBTQ Iowans, is preparing to defend opportunities for transgender athletes again next year.

“We know this is coming back next year,” Crow said. “We will be mobilizing LGBTQ Iowans across the state to speak with their legislators, attend forums and educate their friends and co-workers on why inclusive policies matter.”

The bodies that oversee Iowa high school athletics already have weighed in.

“The transgender student at an Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union member school who identifies as a female despite having been born with male genitals, shall be allowed to fully compete as a female as long as she consistently identifies as a female at school, home and socially,” according to the group’s rules.

In Iowa, each school district addresses eligibility guidelines, including participation by transgender athletes.

However, the impact of rules about who can and cannot participate extend beyond sports, Crow said. It’s not just about equality, but about making Iowa an inviting and welcoming place.

“We hear folks saying over and over again, on both sides of the aisle, how businesses can’t attract enough talent to fill the jobs they already have,” Crow said.

“Attracting, recruiting and retaining top talent is a goal which cannot coexist with policies of exclusion and fear,” Crow said. “So we’ll be asking folks to continue to step up to the plate and advocate for LGBTQ Iowans, which is itself a component of advocating for pro-economic growth policies.”

Unfortunately, Iowa Republicans have pushed a “closed for business agenda,” Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, said. “Virtually every major bill that they've introduced has made Iowa less attractive place for new employers, for young Iowans and for young families.”

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