If you’ve seen a student-organized drag show or queer rights protest over the past couple decades, odds are a GSA is behind it. GSAs — gender-sexuality alliances — serve as both social clubs and advocacy orgs for LGBTQ students, those questioning their identity and straight, cisgender allies in middle school, high school and college, and […]
LGBTQ
Posted inCommunity/News
The new state laws affecting LGBTQ students this fall
In many important ways, the bills passed by Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds this year that targeted transgender students echoed the law enacted last year banning transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ or women’s sports at schools or colleges in Iowa. Like the sports ban, the new laws […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Essay: A Floridian encounters beauty, love, bad weather and discomforting deja vu in Iowa
I knew nothing about Iowa before I knew it was taking my partner away from me. The original plan was to break up at the end of the summer, before college; four years later, we’ve somehow made the long distance work. The first time I visited Billy in Iowa was fall 2019. Since then, I’ve […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Employees at Iowa’s only unionized Starbucks ‘strike with Pride’ as part of national campaign
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. The sky was overcast early Friday morning, but spirits were high on the picket-line outside the downtown Iowa City Starbucks. The store’s workers were joining unionized workers at 150 other Starbucks across […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Drag ordinances in three Iowa cities are unconstitutional, argues ACLU of Iowa
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. On Tuesday, the ACLU of Iowa sent letters to the city councils of Dyersville, Pella and Waukee advising them to revise their ordinances restricting drag shows because they are unconstitutional. All three […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Pickleball meets you where you are’: Iowans of all stripes are picking up the paddle, launching leagues
No matter the question, the answer is always pickleball. “Pickleball meets you where you are,” said Emma Clark, a career coach at Cornell College. Clark grew up playing racquetball in Illinois, but the sport isn’t as popular today, so she searched for a racquetball-adjacent activity instead. When the Smithfield Tennis and Pickleball Center in Cedar […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Pride Sports League ensures every athlete in Central Iowa has a league of their own
Rich Rumsey is an active guy. He likes to play volleyball, dodgeball and go biking. But when he joined Pride Sports League in 2019, it wasn’t for sports. It was for the community. “It’s an organized way to find other people that are similar to yourself,” he said. “It’s a great way to meet people.” […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Waterloo City Council prohibits conversion therapy; Rep. Salmon says ban violates ‘parents’ rights’
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. This week, Waterloo became the second city in Iowa to ban conversion therapy. The city council voted 6-1 to adopt an ordinance prohibiting “any medical or mental health professional” from “provid[ing] or […]
Posted inCommunity/News
During the ‘wild, bucking ’70s’, Iowa City’s lesbian and gay communities were often at odds. A crisis brought them together.
This article is part one in a three-part series from Adria Carpenter exploring the history of HIV/AIDS activism in Iowa City. Part two and three will be published in the weeks to come. In the early 1980s, Rev. John Harper was a fresh-faced graduate student at the University of Iowa and a semi-active member of […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Iowa City receives the nation’s leading anti-trans personality with trans-affirming chalk, chants, music and disruption
“I’ll be speaking at the University of Iowa tomorrow night,” Daily Wire host Matt Walsh tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. “I feel confident that I will be warmly welcomed with smiles and good cheer from all of the students on campus.” Walsh was being sarcastic; the conservative commentator who found his niche promoting misinformation about and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Sharon Malheiro, attorney who helped win marriage equality for Iowans, has died
Sharon Malheiro, an attorney whose career of fighting “for the underdog” spanned decades and who secured some of the most significant civil rights victories in Iowa, died on Sunday night. Her death was announced on social media by One Iowa, the nonprofit advocacy organization for LGBTQ Iowans she co-founded in 2006. “Sharon’s legacy of service, […]
Posted inLetters
Letter from local faith leaders: Anti-LGBTQ legislation puts Iowans in danger
Submitted by David Borger Germann, Executive Pastor, Sanctuary Community Church Over the last seven weeks of the Iowa legislative session, numerous anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced. Bills restricting teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity as well as acknowledgement of gender identity without a parent’s permission are finding their way through our legislative processes. Legislation […]
