“Our state has an impressive legacy of advancing women’s equality,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said on Thursday, just before she signed into law a bill banning transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports in Iowa schools, colleges and universities. HF 2416 restricts participation on all school or college girls sports teams and in all […]
LGBTQ
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Iowa House Republicans approve ban on transgender girls in girls’ sports, extending the ban to colleges and universities
The Iowa House approved a bill to ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports at schools on Monday night, after amending it to extend the ban to community colleges and public and private universities. HF 2416 only received support from Republicans when it was passed by a subcommittee and the House Education Committee, but […]
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‘State-sanctioned bullying’: Iowa House Republicans advance bill to ban transgender students from playing girls sports
It was a forgone conclusion that a bill seeking to ban transgender girls from participating in girls sports at all Iowa schools would be approved by a subcommittee of the Iowa House Education Committee on Thursday, because the two Republicans on the three-person subcommittee are the bill’s co-sponsors. Rep. Skyler Wheeler and Rep. Henry Stone […]
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‘I can rock a baritone’: Transitioning helped Lucy Suarez reinvent herself and flout expectations
When Lucy Suarez decided to transition, the metalhead musician made the call to keep her voice as it was. “Obviously I still kept the low voice,” she said. “I can rock a baritone. … I know where [my voice] naturally resonates and I stick to it.” She studied composition at the University of Northern Iowa, […]
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‘There’s no right way to be trans’: One year into her transition, Madeline Trainor is her own woman
The internet is an incandescent sludge of information and toxicity, a vessel for boundless exploration and a minefield of odious rabbit holes. But despite what some may preach, no amount of Tumblr blogs or Twitter threads can turn a person trans. “Sometimes you get like trolls on your social media and they’re like, ‘oh, the […]
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‘Trans man, any man — you are man enough’: How Oliver Wenman found gender euphoria through burlesque
“I shaved last Monday, and look, I’ve got stubble already,” Oliver Wenman says, leaning into his laptop camera during our conversation over Google Meet. “Being able to hear my voice and not cringe at it. Being at a public pool just in swim trunks, and being able to just feel the sun on me.” He […]
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UI’s LGBTQ Clinic, a ‘haven’ for trans and nonbinary patients, marks 10 years of breaking down barriers
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. […]
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‘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 […]
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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 […]
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‘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 […]
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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 […]
