Editor: This story makes one thing very clear. With Donald Trump in the White House signing his anti-trans executive orders, aspects of Project 2025 being implemented each day, and Republicans all over the country feeling emboldened, Iowa will not be the only state to do this. It is simply the first. Iowa stripped civil rights from trans people. Their reason for doing so makes it worse.
If you’re a regular reader and don’t feel like reading my commentary right now, you can skip ahead to the news article. If you aren’t a regular reader, gimme a chance? 🤗
The excuse is despicable. They can’t enforce the fu****g bathroom laws with civil rights protecting people? We’re back on the bathroom BS again?
I want a Republican—any Republican—to show me proof of ONE instance where someone was attacked by a trans person in the bathroom. They won’t find any. But they’ll find a TON of assaults in bathrooms that were carried out by STRAIGHT MEN. Bathroom laws are no excuse for why Iowa stripped civil rights from trans people.
What don’t they understand? Trans women would not be able to walk into a men’s room and feel safe. It’s highly likely that a trans man would be assaulted by men rushing in after hearing women scream if he walks into the ladies room.
The gentleman pictured below is America’s first transgender professional boxer. The lovely lady is Miss Trans 2023. Imagine them walking into the bathroom for the “gender they were assigned at birth.”
Instead of fearing that which they don’t understand, how about they seek to understand that which they fear? Instead of hating higher education and scientists and anyone smarter than them, they could educate themselves on the progress and changes in American culture and cultures all over the world. Maybe then they’ll no longer feel threatened?
The problem with Conservatives is they don’t want things to change. They want everyone and everything to stay the same—no progress, no growth, no improvement, no advancement as a species. Anything new and different is “woke.”
The diversification of our country scares them. They feel like they are (and they’re right) becoming the minority and that terrifies them.
If they were more open to change and learning about new or different things, society would be more open-minded and understanding. Instead, they are resistant to the point of fear and anger—Lashing out at anyone threatening to advance our culture or human beings as a species.
Anyway, back to the topic… Iowa stripped civil rights from trans people
Instead of passing abortion bans, Republicans could have doctors and women come in and educate them with facts/answer questions about pregnancy and abortion.
Instead of passing gender-affirming care and bathroom bans, they could have transgender men and women come in and talk with them about why the entire bathroom argument is irrelevant and stupid. They’ll have a chance to ask questions and learn more about people and concepts in society they don’t understand.
I’m a firm believer in the saying, “you fear what you don’t understand” and fear can cause some people to hate. A lot of the hate Trump supporters and rural Americans have for certain groups is coming from the fact that they are isolated and have little experience interacting with people different from them.
Before you accuse me of generalizing or stereotyping, let me just say this: I grew up in a small town in the country. The town was made up of mostly higher middle-class White families.
A lot of kids in my high school were racist. My brother and I were picked on mercilessly for listening to rap music and for wearing our Tupac 🫶 t-shirts to school (I had a Public Enemy shirt I loved, too).
I won’t go off on a “weave,” I’ll just end by saying that there were a lot of Confederate flags waving on porches and off the backs of pick-up trucks in town, so I’m not assuming things about rural communities, I grew up in one. In an area where everyone was the same.
That’s my point. If you’ve never been around someone of a different race, or culture, or sexuality, maybe you can’t understand it so it’s easier to be afraid of and hate people different from you. That doesn’t make it right. It also doesn’t provide a valid reason for why Iowa stripped civil rights from trans people
We need to actively show patience with people who ask questions to learn more instead of attacking them. Less people fearing the unknown will mean less hate around the country.
Yeah, I know. I’m a dreamer and wishful thinker and you just want to read the news about what Iowa did. Here is the article from the Intercept about how Iowa stripped civil rights from trans people.
Let’s hope this isn’t one of those “cut and paste” pieces of legislation that The Heritage Foundation sends to every Republican legislature in the country.
Iowa Becomes First State to Repeal Civil Rights for Trans People
by Natasha Lennard of The Intercept
Over the last five years, GOP legislators across the country have escalated their attacks on trans youth and adults.
Iowa, however, now holds the dubious distinction of becoming the first statehouse to repeal civil rights protections for trans people. The bill legislators passed on Thursday explicitly removes civil rights protections that had been enshrined in state law. Once the pro-discrimination bill is signed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, trans people in Iowa will no longer be considered a protected category under state law.
The bill’s supporters were clear: They want to be able to discriminate against trans people — and don’t want any barriers like pesky civil rights protections in the way.
“If signed, Iowa will become the first state in American history to remove a protected class from its Civil Rights Act,” wrote Erin Reed, a journalist and trans rights advocate, “setting a dangerous precedent for broader rollbacks of anti-discrimination protections.”
Introduced last week, the new legislation was pushed through at breakneck speed. The Republican-led Iowa Legislature voted 60 to 36 in the House and 33 to 15 in the Senate to pass the bill, which now heads to Reynolds’s desk for signing. Reynolds has been a keen participant in the Republicans’ anti-trans onslaught so is unlikely to push back.
Iowa included gender identity in its civil rights code since 2007 with the aim of protecting against employment, housing, health care, education, and other widespread discrimination that trans people face.
A 2024 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that 82 percent of trans people reported experiencing discrimination or harassment at work due to their gender identity or sexual orientation — nearly double the number of cis LGBTQ+ individuals who reported experiencing discrimination. One in 5 trans people have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.
The move to revoke civil rights — and remove “gender identity” as a protected category — is directly at odds with the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects employees against discrimination based on sex and gender identity. In line with the Trump administration’s anti-scientific enforcement of two strictly binary sexes, the Iowa bill defines sex as assigned by anatomy at birth.
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Human Rights
