Iowa becomes first state to end transgender civil rights protections

Iowa on Friday became the first state to strip transgender citizens of civil rights protections.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that removes gender identity as a protected class in the state, rolling back anti-discrimination regulations across housing, employment, public accommodation and other sectors.

Reynolds touted the new law as one that “safeguards the rights of women and girls,” though admitted it was a “sensitive issue for some.”

“It’s common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it’s necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls,” the Republican said in an X video, adding that the previous civil rights code “blurred the biological line between the sexes.”

Sexual orientation and gender identity were not originally included in the state’s Civil Rights Act of 1965. Those protections were added in 2007 with bipartisan support.

The new law creates explicit legal definitions of female and male based on the reproductive organs they were born with, effectively dismissing the existence of transgender people or the idea that a person can transition to another gender.

This aligns with President Trump’s executive order, which he signed last month, recognizing only two sexes.

He applauded the new law ahead of its passage Thursday, saying in a Truth Social post that it rejects “Radical Gender Ideology.”

The new law, which takes effect July 1, was swiftly passed after it was introduced just last week.

Five Republicans tore from their party to join Democrats in opposition to the bill, which passed in the legislature Thursday with a 60-36 vote.

Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, the first openly transgender person to serve in the Iowa Legislature, made an impassioned plea ahead of the vote to scrap the bill, wiping tears as she told her chamber colleagues that she “transitioned to save my life.”

“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.”

Hundreds of protesters stormed the Capitol rotunda following the Legislature’s votes, with signs reading “Trans rights are human rights” and “No hate in our state!”

Iowa is the first state to roll back civil rights for transgender citizens, though other states are eyeing similar bills that limit gender identity.

Among them, West Virginia legislators introduced a bill to recognize “transgenderism as a mental disorder.”

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Stephen Collopy

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