Iowa anti lgbtq law

Quick Hits

  • Iowa Governor Reynolds signed a bill into law that removes “gender identity” as a protected class under the state’s civil rights code.
  • The law further defines gender as binary, requires birth certificates to show sex, and restricts teaching about “gender theory” from kindergarten through sixth grade.
  • The enactment further amends the law to specifically state that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”

Senate File (SF) 418, which takes outcome on July 1, 2025, removes “gender identity” as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment, wages, widespread accommodations, housing, knowledge, and credit practices. The new statute makes it more difficult for non-binary individuals to transport claims alleging discrimination or harassment in state court. Furthermore, the amended regulation states that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”

The governor’s signature came one day after express lawmakers approved the legislation on February 27, 2025. The legislation was fast-tracked through the express legislature, passing both the Iowa Home and Senate in less than a week after it was introduced on February 24, 2

Inclusion on this list means the bill either directly targets LGBTQ Iowans, will have a primary impact on LGBTQ Iowans, or was created as a response to misinformation about LGBTQ Iowans. These are not the only bills we work on, but we consider them the most dangerous.

Note: Newer bills generally appear at the end of the list.

Last updated: 5/15/25

Threat levels are, in order:
Unknown, Low, Elevated, and High

HF80 & SF8
Context: Allows teachers and staff to misgender students, even if parents tell them not to
Status: Ineligible for debate due to 2nd funnel deadline
Sponsors (House):HAYES
Sponsors (Senate):GREEN 
Threat Level: Elevated
Passed: No

HF51 & SF116
Context: “Obscenity” ban meant to contain drag as “obscene”
Status: Ineligible for debate due to 2nd funnel deadline
Sponsors (House): FETT
Sponsors (Senate): SALMON,CAMPBELL, WESTRICH, ALONS, GUTH, EVANS, PIKE, ROWLEY, TAYLOR and LOFGREN
Threat Level: Unknown
Passed: No

HF888& SF204
Context: Among other things, removes gender neutral language from nature language courses and lifts the cap on the number of unrelated children that can be homescho

ICYMI: Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds Signs “Don’t Tell LGBTQ+” and Sex Ed Censorship Bills into Commandment

Human Rights Campaign Legislative Counsel Courtnay Avant released the following statement:

“It is egregious that extreme politicians in Iowa are using their power to jeopardize the lives and dignity of LGBTQ+ students across the state. Attempting to erase LGBTQ+ people and issues from the classroom isolates an entire group of youth who deserve to feel affirmed and safe at educational facility. Lawmakers should be active to uplift inclusion and diversity in education - not marginalizing and stigmatizing LGBTQ+ students.”

Anti-LGBTQ+ legislators are targeting LGBTQ+ youth by attempting to silence, erase, and isolate them through curriculum censorship, book bans, and other divisive tactics. But poll after poll indicates that Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to these efforts to punish and target LGBTQ+ youth. In 2020, eight of the 10 books that received the most challenges to use in libraries and schools were based on LGBTQ+ subjects or narratives, according to the American Library Association’s annual ranking of books that were banned or protested in schools and public libraries.

By

Iowa governor signs law removing civil rights protections for transgender Iowans

This story was updated Feb. 28, 2025, at 4:00 p.m.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law Friday that removes gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

The law takes effect July 1 and will finish state anti-discrimination protections for transgender people in housing, employment, public accommodations and more.

Reynolds said in a video remark that the novel law is needed to prevent courts from overturning Iowa’s other laws that restrict transgender rights in school bathrooms and sports teams.

"These commonsense protections were at risk because before I signed this bill, the civil rights code blurred the organic line between the sexes," she said. "It has also forced Iowa taxpayers to pay for gender reassignment surgeries. And that’s unacceptable to me, and it’s unacceptable to most Iowans."

Reynolds said the law is necessary to "strengthen protections for women and girls."

Max Mowitz, executive director of LGBTQ rights organization One Iowa, said this makes Iowa the first state to roll back civil rights protections for an entire protected class.

"Gov. Reynolds has chosen t

Iowa's civil rights protections no longer include gender self as new law takes effect

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa became the first state to remove gender identity from its civil rights code under a law that took impact Tuesday, meaning transgender and nonbinary residents are no longer protected from discrimination in their job, housing and other aspects of life.

The law also explicitly defines female and male based on reproductive organs at birth and removes the ability for people to change the sex designation on their birth certificate.

An unprecedented take-back of legal rights after nearly two decades in Iowa code leaves transgender, nonbinary and potentially even intersex Iowans more vulnerable now than they were before. It's a governing doctrine now widely adopted by President Donald Trump and Republican-led states despite the mainstream medical view that sex and gender are better understood as a spectrum than as an either-or definition.

When Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa's new law, she said the state's previous civil rights code "blurred the biological line between the sexes."

"It's common sense to acknowledge the obvious living differences between iowa anti lgbtq law