Gov. Terry Branstad illegally discriminated against the former Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Christopher Godfrey when he slashed Godfrey’s salary in 2011 in an attempt to force Godfrey to resign, a Polk County jury decided on Monday. The jury agreed with Godfrey that Branstad had singled him out because Godfrey is gay, and awarded him $1.5 million in damages.
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June 28 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York City, an event that catapulted the struggle for LGBTQ rights into the public consciousness. Of course, this struggle did not begin with Stonewall, or end with any law or Supreme Court decision — nor is LGBTQ history limited to high-profile protests in big cities. A dedicated group of Grinnell College students and their professor are […]
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill on Friday that contained a provision overturning a March ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court striking down the state’s ban on the use of Medicaid funds to pay for sex reassignment procedures deemed medically necessary by doctors. The justices ruled unanimously that the ban violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act […]
Update, April 26: A drag show with the same performers, scheduled for May 3 at 7 p.m., has been announced with Rich Heritage of Cedar Rapids Theatre as the host and venue. The event is free with a $5 suggested donation. Proceeds will still benefit Iowa Safe Schools. A May 3 drag show and fundraiser […]
The path to marriage equality in Iowa started with a divorce. Kimberly Brown and Jennifer Perez traveled from their home in western Iowa to Vermont in 2002 to be joined in a civil union, a substitute for traditional civic marriages Vermont created for same-sex couples in 2000. […]
In a unanimous decision issued on Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the state’s prohibition on the use of Medicaid funds to pay for sex reassignment procedures deemed medically necessary by doctors violates the Iowa Civil Rights Act. The decision confirms a district court judge’s ruling in June 2018, striking down the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) rule against paying for such procedures. […]
On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the University of Iowa to restore a Christian group’s status as an official student organization. Business Leaders in Christ (BLinC), which was founded in the Tippie College of Business in 2014, had its designation as an official student organization revoked in 2017 […]
The revision of NAFTA signed by President Donald Trump, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in Buenos Aires on Friday contains a ground-breaking provision regarding LGBTQ rights. But thanks in part to pressure from Rep. Steve King and 39 other rightwing members of Congress, that provision won’t apply […]
As people crowded into polling places on the University of Iowa’s campus on Tuesday afternoon, a group of students from Iowa City’s South East Junior High School marched to the campus to show support for transgender rights. Two eighth-graders, Sam and Lucas, mounted the steps of Schaeffer Hall to rally their fellow students, who had […]
On Wednesday, the Justice Department filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that said business owners should be allowed to discriminate against transgender workers. Representing the Trump administration, Solicitor General Noel Francisco discarded the position the Justice Department has previously held, and argued in the brief there is nothing in federal law preventing such discrimination. […]
On Sunday, the New York Times reported the Trump administration is considering erasing the rights of transgender gender under federal law by “narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.” […]
When Ashley Lindley applied to be part of One Iowa’s LGBTQ Leadership Institute, she felt uncertain. It wasn’t the prospect of six months of regularly commuting from Iowa City to Des Moines for training sessions that concerned her. […]
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