“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
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
Students across Iowa walk out of class to protest anti-LGBTQ bills: ‘We want to keep our friends alive’
Students at schools across Iowa walked out of class on Wednesday to protest against more than two dozen anti-LGBTQ bills Republican members of the Iowa Legislature have introduced this year. The bills include sweeping so-called “education reform” bills. One would prohibit teachers and schools from mentioning any gender-related issues to younger students, force all Iowa […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds boasts about her anti-LGBTQ school policies, calls for new law restricting students’ access to books conservatives don’t like
Speaking at a gathering of conservative activists on Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds expressed her opposition to schools offering support to transgender students and called for a new law to restrict student access to books some conservative parents find objectionable. The governor characterized these proposals as part of her agenda of “parental rights,” a term she […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Mean-spirited’ bill restricting how teachers can support transgender students moves quickly through Iowa House
On Tuesday afternoon, the three members of an Iowa House subcommittee listened to an hour of testimony on HF 9, a bill aimed at preventing teachers and other school staff from acknowledging the identities of transgender students unless they first receive parental permission to do so. With only a few exceptions, the speakers testified strongly […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Iowa Supreme Court rules in favor of transgender worker in landmark employment discrimination case
In a decision handed down Friday morning, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 2019 jury verdict that found the Iowa Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination against transgender people based on their gender identity. Jesse Vroegh, a transgender man and former Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC) employee, sued that agency and the Iowa Department of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘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, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘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 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Trans, polysaturated: Mitchell Grauberger’s gender journey and polyamorous love story
“The line between friendship versus romantic attraction is very strange for me,” 24-year-old Mitchell Grauberger lamented. “I enjoy having, like, platonic cuddles with my friends. So where’s this line? Am I romantically attracted to you? Or am I just a friend?” Last February, Mitch managed to maneuver this gray area with a friend he’d met […]
Posted inCommunity/News
UI students may now indicate preferred name, gender, sex and pronoun via Inclusive Student Records Inative
The Inclusive Student Records Initiative has launched on the University of Iowa’s Office of the Registrar website, and, for the first time, students will be able to provide their desired name and pronoun, as they’d like it to be displayed on their applications and in the student record systems, as well as in the instructor […]
Posted inCommunity/News, Dear Kiki
Dear Kiki: Broaching gender as a trans-identified instructor
I’m a trans-identified graduate instructor working with college students for the first time. My students are used to calling their teacher by an honorific, and while I’ve insisted they shouldn’t, it’s clear that they’re uncertain about my gender…
