Iowa Votes To Remove Gender Identity Protections.
Des Moines, Iowa (AP) — Iowa lawmakers became the first in the nation to approve legislation removing gender identity protections from the state’s civil rights code Thursday, despite massive protests by opponents who say it could expose transgender people to discrimination in numerous areas of life.
The measure raced through the legislative process after first being introduced last week. The state Senate was first to approve the bill on Thursday, on party lines, followed by the House less than an hour later. Five House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it.
The bill would remove gender identity as a protected class from the state’s civil rights law and explicitly define female and male, as well as gender, which would be considered a synonym for sex and “shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.”
In a new era of anti-trans legislation, the protests in Iowa did not prove effective in stopping transgender identity from being removed as being a protected class in the Hawkeye State. Iowa is now a deep Red state despite what some erroneous last minute polls just before the November election appeared to indicate. Anti-transgender legislation appears to be the Gay rights movement of the early 2000s, it appeals to a hard base and wins elections, until it doesn’t
