Speaking to the crowd gathered at College Green Park in downtown Iowa City for the Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) rally on Tuesday, Katie Freeman began by talking about the sounds — shouts, chants, angry and despairing screams — they heard in protests inside the Iowa State Capitol last year as Republican lawmakers voted to […]
Transgender
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Kim Reynolds kicks off her ‘Legacy Tour’ just days after signing bill undermining the rights of trans Iowans
The “Governor Kim Reynolds Legacy Tour” kicks off in Cedar Rapids on Thursday at the Hotel at Kirkwood Center. The 90-minute event starts at 6 p.m. “Hors D’oeuvres will be served,” according to the Iowa Republican Party’s ticket page for the event. “Do not miss your chance to show Governor Reynolds our appreciation for her […]
Posted inStatewide
‘Chipping away at the rights of Iowans’: House passes bill to eliminate local civil rights protections for trans people
On Thursday, the Iowa House approved a bill that prohibits local governments from having any civil rights ordinances that provide greater protections for rights than state law does. Eliminating the power of local governments to protect the rights of transgender and nonbinary people is one of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ stated priorities for her final legislative session as governor.
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Conversion therapy, affirmative action bills pass Iowa House
The Iowa House passed two measures Wednesday that Democrats and opponents said would harm marginalized populations, including transgender Iowans, throughout the state. HF 2557 creates exemptions to the definitions of “child abuse” and “child endangerment” in Iowa Code for a parent’s response to a child whose gender identity does not align with their sex assigned […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Ames City Council votes to protect rights of trans residents — one day after legislators advance bill to ban such ordinances
This week, after Republicans on an Iowa House subcommittee advanced a bill to eliminate the power of local governments to offer broader civil rights protections than the state does, Ames became the latest city in the state to amend its municipal code to protect the rights of transgender and nonbinary residents. HSB 664 was drafted […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House Republicans advance bills to eliminate local civil rights protections, allow parents to force LGBTQ kids into ‘conversion therapy’
Republican members of two Iowa House Judiciary subcommittees advanced two bills on Monday that continue the anti-LGBTQ agenda Gov. Kim Reynolds and legislative Republicans have enshrined in state law since 2022. As the hearings were underway, supporters of transgender rights and advocates for LGBTQ Iowans protested in the rotunda and halls of the State Capitol. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Rob Sand talks water quality, trans rights and ‘tables in Des Moines that need flipping’ on the campaign trail
Not everyone at Field Day Brewing in North Liberty last Thursday night was there to see Rob Sand, something he acknowledged as he started the Johnson County stop on his 100 Town Hall Tour. Some people were just there to eat, which is why the clatter of knives and forks on plates was the background […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds celebrates ‘a culture of life’ one year into abortion ban; Iowans seek care across state lines as reproductive health clinics close
Gov. Kim Reynolds has been a featured speaker at the Family Leadership Summit every year during her governorship. When she took the stage at Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines for this year’s event on July 11, Reynolds — who announced in April she is not running for reelection — reflected on […]
Posted inCommunity/News
ACLU of Iowa warns five cities that their anti-drag ordinances are unconstitutional
The ACLU of Iowa has sent letters to city councils in five communities, asking councilmembers to update their city codes and remove language classifying performances by male and female impersonators as “adult entertainment” banned or restricted by local law. ACLU of Iowa staff attorney Shefali Aurora said during an online news conference on Wednesday that the […]
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Last-minute amendment to House budget bill targets healthcare for trans Americans; bill would take Medicaid from 86,000 Iowans
The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the tax and spending bill supported by President Trump early on Thursday morning. A last-minute change to the bill, apparently to make it more appealing to rightwing members of Congress threatening to vote no, targets transgender Americans. An amendment to the bill’s ban on Medicaid paying […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Republicans advance bill with a ban on Medicaid funding for all forms of gender-affirming care
On Wednesday, Iowa Senate Republicans advanced a bill with a provision that would cut off funding for medical treatments for people with gender dysphoria, despite testimony pointing to a medical consensus that stopping access to such treatments can increase the risk of suicide among transgender people. This is the first piece of anti-trans legislation Iowa […]
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‘I can’t get a passport in this country right now’: Iowa City marks Transgender Day of Visibility in the shadow of anti-trans state, national laws
Approximately 100 people gathered at College Green Park in Iowa City on Tuesday for a rally to mark this year’s International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). “Visibility is power. Visibility is defiance,” Mandi Remington, founder and director of Corridor Community Action Network (CCAN) and a member of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, told the […]
