When debating the first of many pieces of legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion Tuesday in the Iowa House, Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, said she’s already heard from individuals and groups seeing the negative impacts of stripping away DEI at Iowa colleges and universities. An Iowa State University professor was asked to stop requiring students […]
Rep. Henry Stone
Iowa House Republicans advance bill to extend ban on LGBTQ topics in elementary schools to middle and high schools
The ban on classroom discussions or lessons acknowledging the identity of anyone except straight, cisgendered individuals, imposed by Gov. Reynolds on K-6 Iowa schools in 2023, would be extended to cover all school instruction through the end of high school under a bill advanced by an Iowa House subcommittee on Wednesday. “This bill prohibits school […]
A bill protecting ‘teachers of faith’ from having to respect students’ or parents’ preferred pronouns advances as LGBTQ rights advocates rally
“They are trying to wear us down,” Courtney Reyes of One Iowa Action said about the raft of anti-LGBTQ legislation Republicans have introduced this year in the Iowa Legislature. “We’re not going anywhere.” Reyes, the executive director of the nonprofit that advocates on behalf of LGBTQ Iowans, was speaking at a rally in the Iowa […]
‘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 […]

