Iowa Republicans are shoving kids off the field and into the shadows

It’s been nearly 18 years since I watched four Republicans join 21 Democrats to defeat a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Iowa. It was a stunning development, given that not much gets debated in the Legislature unless it has the votes for passage.

Yeah, I had to rewrite my story on the fly. But it was a dramatic victory for civil rights. In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a statutory ban on marriage equality. The rest is history. The amendment never received serious consideration again.

From there, we’ve moved onward and upward. OK, maybe not.

This week the Republican-controlled Iowa House approved a bill banning transgender girls from competing in girls’ and women’s sports at the high school and college level. It was not a proud moment.

“That’s what I see as the problem,” said Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Fairfield. “We have a lot of really young children out there and they have a sacred womb-space and they’re confused and think they have a wand of light.”

Allow me to translate. Shipley was using the Sanskrit descriptions of women and men to talk about transgender kids in Iowa. He also said some wands of light believe they are a sacred womb-space. I’m not making this up.

Shipley offered this curious assessment as he pushed for an amendment to the bill that would have yanked liability protection away from schools that have a “trans-affirming” or “queer-affirming” curriculum. He argues such acceptance is “confusing students, leading them to mental illness.” Shipley repeatedly argued transgender kids have a mental illness, namely gender dysphoria.

Shipley isn’t a mental health professional, but he plays one in the Legislature. Actually, according to the American Psychiatric Association, gender dysphoria is “from the distress caused by the body and mind not aligning and/or societal marginalization of gender-variant people.”

The PSA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, “articulates explicitly that ‘gender non-conformity is not in itself a mental disorder.’”

But Dr. Shipley’s only prescription is societal marginalization. He compared being transgender to having cancer. Without his amendment, he insisted, “The cancer will remain and continue to grow.”

“I appreciate where you’re coming from,” said Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Orange City, the sports ban’s floor manager. “I appreciate your passion on the issue.”

But Wheeler said the amendment would broaden the scope of the bill too much. It was defeated 91-3.

Were these just the ramblings of a single lawmaker, or did Shipley actually reveal the playbook? Backers of the sports ban insist it’s all about fairness in competition, even though there’s no evidence in Iowa that girls’ sports has been harmed by transgender participation. It’s not discrimination, they insist.

Or is it really about labeling these kids as mentally ill and damaged and shoving them off the playing field and into the shadows? This bill is steeped in the thinly veiled, reckless notion that being transgender isn’t actually a real thing. There’s also the ridiculous idea that a boy might transition simply to win a girls’ track meet or set a school record. It cheapens these kids’ lives in the service of scare tactics and scoring red state political points.

Iowans have prided themselves on the fact that our state has been ahead of the curve many times when it comes to expanding civil rights. Now the genitalia police are demanding birth certificates. I would love a chance to rewrite this story, and erase all the hate.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com

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