Republican Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law Friday a bill expunging transgender protections from the state’s civil rights code, making the Hawkeye State the first in the nation to do so.
The bill specifies gender will be considered in state law as synonymous with biological sex rather than gender identity. In addition, people with sexual developmental disorders — including persons with intersex traits — would be afforded legal protections that cover people with disabilities. The terms “gender” and “gender identity” were also struck out in the bill.
Distinctions in state law based on sex apply to various spaces including detention facilities, locker rooms and restrooms, and align with the state government’s “objectives of protecting the health, safety, and privacy of the persons in these contexts.” Furthermore, surgeries to remove sex organs or hormonal treatments affecting biological sex would no longer be grounds for state approval of a new birth certificate for Iowans, according to the bill.
The bill — first introduced Feb. 24, 2025 as the culmination of years-long Republican-led efforts to protect women and girls — goes into effect July 1, 2025, The Associated Press (AP) reported. A similar effort by Reynolds in 2024 did not reach the voting stage at the Iowa House or Senate.
All Iowa House and Senate Democrats voted against the bill, according to AP. Five Iowa House Republicans joined them. (RELATED: Democrat Governor Backs Bill Replacing The Word ‘Mother’ With ‘Inseminated Person’)
Today, I signed into law a bill that safeguards the rights of women and girls. pic.twitter.com/bjEEsAW6aR
— Gov. Kim Reynolds (@IAGovernor) February 28, 2025
“It is necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls. It’s why we have men[‘s] and women’s bathrooms but not men[‘s] and women’s conference rooms; girls’ and boys’ sport but not girls’ math and boys’ math; separate men[‘s] and women’s prisons but not different laws for men and women,” Reynolds said before signing the bill.
“Unfortunately, these commonsense protections were at risk because, before I signed this bill, the civil rights code blurred the biological line between the sexes,” Reynolds added.
Iowa Democrats added transgender protections to the state’s civil rights code in 2007, Fox News reported (RELATED: Watch The Daily Caller’s ‘Damaged’ documentary).
The blurring of the line forced taxpayers to fund gender reassignment surgeries, Reynolds said, adding that such funding was “unacceptable to me” and “to most Iowans.”
Reynolds acknowledged signing the bill was “a sensitive issue for some” who may have been misinformed about the bill. “The truth is that it simply brings Iowa in line with the federal civil rights code and with most states,” she stated.
Democratic Iowa State Rep. Aime Wichtendahl criticized the bill, alleging it could fuel anti-transgender discrimination in society. “The same week I transitioned on the job, I received a letter from my property management company telling me I had 30 days to move,” Wichtendahl said.
“This bill revokes protections to our jobs, our homes, and our ability to access credit … The purpose of this bill … is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence,” Wichtendahl added.
Wichtendahl, 45, is the first transgender person — a male identifying as a female — elected to Iowa’s state legislature, Iowa Public Radio reported.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
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