Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 418 into law late last week, stating she was signing a bill that “safeguards the rights of women and girls.”
The bill removes gender identity as a protected class under Iowa law. It also addresses the word “gender” itself by stating that word is a synonym for “sex” and biology rather than a term for a person’s feelings or expression.
Gov. Reynolds went on to call it “common sense” to acknowledge the obvious biological difference between men and women.
Josiah Oleson, of The Family Leader, tells AFN the legislation that is now law removes gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Code. Democrats had inserted it back in 2007, he says, when they controlled the legislature and the governor’s office.
Republicans have now held the majority since 2010, however. GOP lawmakers currently have a super-majority in the House and Senate, and Gov. Reynolds was re-elected to a second term with 58% in 2022.
“The so-called rights that the Left is upset about them losing is they're no longer going to be able to use public bathrooms, dressing rooms, or showers designated for the opposite sex,” Oleson says. “And they're not going to have the right to homeless shelters that are designated for the opposite sex.”
None of those real-life scenarios were included on protests signs, of course, when hundreds of protesters streamed into the state capitol and yelled “Shame!” at Republican lawmakers.
Republicans also ignored the last-minute plea from a transgender lawmaker, Aime Wichtendahl (pictured at right). The man, who identifies as a woman, said during floor debate the purpose of “anti-trans” bill is to “make our existence illegal.”
Back in 2015, when he was first elected to a House seat, Wichtendahl bragged that Iowans were "tired of the culture war politics and anti-trans legislation."
Gov. Reynold’s signature also ended taxpayer-funded hormone therapy and surgeries for transgender people, too. The governor called it “unacceptable” for taxpayers to pay for that.
