GLAAD AND ONE IOWA ACTION STATEMENTS AS IOWA CONSIDERS ROLLING BACK CODIFIED CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS

GLAAD: “At a time when transgender people are under unprecedented attack, protections should be enforced and strengthened, not removed to embolden discrimination. This is a red alert wakeup call that if they can do this to trans people, all civil rights protections could be at risk.” 

(New York, NY – February 26, 2025) – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, along with One Iowa Action, a statewide advocacy group working to preserve and advance the rights of LGBTQ Iowans, are responding to news that Iowa lawmakers are considering the Iowa Civil Rights Removal Act (HF583 and SF418), which would make Iowa the first state in the country to roll back existing civil rights protections on the basis of gender identity from its state code.

About half of the states in America have existing nondiscrimination and civil rights laws that include explicit protections for transgender people. Iowa has had its protections in place since 2007, when legislators updated the state’s nondiscrimination law with bipartisan support to explicitly include transgender people.

GLAAD’s President and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis (she/her), released the following statement:
“At a time when transgender people are facing baseless attacks by President Trump and vile anti-transgender rhetoric and violence in our communities, Iowa lawmakers should be ashamed to be piling on the vitriol with this extreme bill. Nondiscrimination laws are critical to protecting our most vulnerable and marginalized communities, and ensuring that no one is treated differently because of who they are. At a time when transgender people are under unprecedented attack, protections should be enforced and strengthened, not removed to embolden discrimination. This is a red alert wakeup call that if they can do this to trans people, all civil rights protections could be at risk. GLAAD’s most recent tracking of anti-LGBTQ incidents shows the safety of all Iowans is at stake. Transgender people are our family members, fellow community members, and loved ones; and we need to support them and all vulnerable communities more than ever.”

According to One Iowa Action, a statewide advocacy group working to preserve and advance the rights of LGBTQ Iowans through grassroots efforts, policy work, voter education and advocacy, the bill’s components include a full-scale removal of transgender Iowans’ civil rights protections, restroom restrictions, birth certificate restrictions, a legal redefinition of sex that attempts to administratively erase trans people from existence, and more.

One Iowa’s Executive Director, Max Mowitz, condemned the proposal last month when it was first introduced: “If this bill passes, many basic life necessities Iowans take for granted will become much more difficult for transgender Iowans to access. Landlords will legally be able to deny them the ability to rent an apartment, banks will be able to deny them a car loan, and hotels will be able to turn them away for no other reason than because they are transgender. This bill gives those who wish to discriminate the ability to put their thumb on the scales of the American dream.”

Since June 1, 2022, GLAAD’s ALERT Desk has tracked over 20 anti-LGBTQ incidents in Iowa. These include at least six violent attacks, such as someone throwing an open box cutter at a high school GSA participating in a parade in Marion, and an assault on a Black gay student at Grinnell College. Other incidents include four cases of vandalism and a bomb threat against an LGBTQ-inclusive junior high school in Altoona.

The Williams Institute of UCLA estimates that there are more than 7,000 transgender people living in Iowa who could lose protections as a result of this bill. Hundreds of people have protested the bill at the capital in Des Moines in recent days.

SF418 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee today, while HF583 will have a public hearing on Thursday morning at 9:30am CST.