“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 […]
transgender rights
Posted inCommunity/News
‘It’s a matter of principle’: Tara McGovern prepares for trial as the only JoCo7 protester to not take a plea deal
Since coming to Iowa City in 1995 to attend the University of Iowa, Tara McGovern has made a name in the arts: a professional musician, well known as an accomplished fiddler, a music therapist, an arts instructor. At the same time, McGovern has also carved out a place as an activist for social justice causes, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
One day after bill undermining transgender rights is defeated, Gov. Reynolds introduces new bill targeting IDs for trans and nonbinary Iowans
One day after a bill that would have stripped legal protections for transgender people out of the Iowa Civil Rights Act was rejected in the Iowa House, Gov. Kim Reynolds introduced a new bill targeting transgender Iowans. Reynolds’ submitted HSB 649 to lawmakers a few hours after Iowa Capitol Dispatch reported on the existence of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Bill to remove protection against gender identity discrimination from Iowa Civil Rights Act gets a scheduled hearing
Since taking control of both chambers of the Iowa Legislature in 2017, Republicans have repeatedly passed discriminatory legislation targeting transgender Iowans with the full support of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has signed those bills and other anti-LGBTQ legislation into law. But even when pushing through those bills almost exclusively on party-line votes, Republicans still understood […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Books pulled from Iowa City schools are being returned after judge issues injunction against SF 496
The Iowa City Community School District is returning the books it removed from school libraries because of a book ban in the sweeping education bill pushed through the Iowa Legislature by Republicans last year. Superintendent Matt Degner told district families and staff in an email on Friday that following a federal judge’s injunction stopping enforcement […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Anti-trans former college swimmer is Gov. Reynolds’ special guest for her biggest fundraiser of the year
It’s been six months since Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the most recent bills targeting transgender Iowans into law, and on Monday the governor showed she intends to keep using her status as a leader figure on the transphobic Republican right to raise money. Reynolds announced Riley Gaines will be her special guest at this year’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Amid an anti-LGBTQ culture war in Iowa schools, the GSA is a safe space — with constitutional protections
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 […]
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
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
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
Iowa Legislature OKs Reynolds’ remaining education restrictions
A bill containing Gov. Kim Reynolds’ remaining education policy priorities passed the Iowa Senate with just support from Republicans on Wednesday. The governor’s top priorities this year include: requiring written permission from parents before a teacher or school can do anything to acknowledge a transgender or nonbinary student’s identity; preventing teachers from acknowledging LGBTQ people […]
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 […]
