When Dr. Nicole Nisly met her first transgender patient, she didn’t know what to say. It’s common among healthcare providers. What name should I use? How should I refer to them? Should I ask? Her patient was a trans woman who had transitioned 10 years prior, and Nisly could feel the tension in the air. […]
LGBTQ
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Basix is staying here’: Beloved Cedar Rapids LGBTQ bar gets a new owner
Two weeks ago, when Andy Harrison announced his plans to close the iconic Belle’s Basix on Feb. 1, he said there was still a chance to save Cedar Rapids’ only LGBTQ night spot. “If someone decides to buy the business then it will carry on as they [see] fit,” Harrison, who has owned the club […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Belle’s Basix, Cedar Rapids’ only LGBTQ bar, is closing — unless a new owner steps up
After a quarter century, Belle’s Basix, an iconic Cedar Rapids bar and one of only a handful of LGBTQ night spots in eastern Iowa, may soon close for good. “Unless someone buys the business, the bar will be permanently closed on Feb. 1st,” owner Andrew Harrison wrote in a late Sunday night Facebook post. “If […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘We are under spiritual attack’: How Iowa’s anti-mask parents became a GOP force — and why they’re leveraging their power to ban books
This month, central Iowa parents seeking to have books they deem “pornographic” removed from school libraries prepared to kick things up a notch. A few of the parents crafted a letter to send to Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, asking for a criminal investigation of the West Des Moines Community School District. “On a continuous […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Eastern Iowa’s LGBTQ softball league puts the werk in teamwork
Best of the CRANDIC 2021 winner: Best Community Sports League In three short years, the Lambda Softball Association (LSA) of Eastern Iowa was founded, became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and grew to include three beginner rec league teams, three competitive D-division teams and the Dirty Divas, a traveling team that competes in cities across the country. […]
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Judge strikes down Iowa’s ban on Medicaid covering gender-affirming medical procedures
In 2019, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state regulation prohibiting Medicaid from covering gender-affirming procedures deemed medically necessary, finding it violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA). Republicans in the state legislature responded by passing a statute intended to amend the ICRA and make that sort of discrimination legal by prohibiting “any state […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Pride announces lineup for fall festival
June may be Pride Month, but October is LGBTQ+ History Month — an appropriate enough occasion for the 50th Iowa City Pride Festival, postponed 15 months due to COVID-19. Last Friday, Iowa City Pride shared the official lineup for their 2021 fest, taking place Oct. 1 and 2. Besides the shift to a fall date […]
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Gov. Reynolds promises Iowa will ‘act as a counterweight’ to the Biden administration at rightwing Christian summit
Gov. Kim Reynolds began her speech at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines on Friday by explaining she had a cold. The cold affected her voice, but did nothing to diminish the enthusiasm she showed at the annual meeting of the right-wing Christian lobbying group the Family Leader (inexplicably stylized as THE FAMiLY LEADER), […]
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Bears bare all at this adult-only, LGBTQ-friendly campground in ‘middle of nowhere’ Iowa
Sloshed on Busch Light and a little sun-dazed after my first pool day in ages, it was 11 p.m. when I finally went to set up my tent at the L.V. Campground in Coggon, Iowa. My sister, two friends and I had rented a cabin ($135/night) — sturdy, spacious and best of all air-conditioned, with […]
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Iowans on the asexual spectrum face misconceptions, lack of visibility
By Alyssa Craven for IowaWatch Growing up, Noelie Boardman felt like there was something different about her. “As I hit puberty, I noticed a lot of people around me were getting into relationships and talking about sex, especially in high school,” Boardman, a 2021 Simpson College graduate, said. “That was just never a thing I […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Transgender Iowan sues to overturn state’s ban on Medicaid coverage for medically necessary procedures
A lawsuit challenging Iowa’s ban on allowing Medicaid to pay for gender-affirming procedures deemed necessary by a doctor was filed in Polk County District Court on Thursday by the ACLU of Iowa and the national ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project. The groups filed the lawsuit on behalf of Aiden Vasquez, a transgender resident of southeast […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Farm Boy, City Girl’ by John “Gene” E. Dawson
John “Gene” E. Dawson’s memoir Farm Boy City Girl: From Gene to Miss Gina, A Memoir (MiRiona Publishing) blends personal narrative with the history of his family and the times in which he lived (1931-2020), chronicling his life as a genderfluid gay man coming of age in the changing cultural landscape of Iowa, St. Louis, […]
