Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 26F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph..
Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 26F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Updated: March 28, 2023 @ 5:50 pm
If you have been watching the Iowa legislature this year, you would have noticed an overwhelming number of bills that target one of Jones County’s marginalized citizens — the LGBTQ community.
For example, HF 348 AND SF 83 are a “Don’t say gay” style legislation that bans any mention of gender identity or sexual orientation from grades K-6 (K-8 in Senate). And, HF 180 AND SSB 1145 forcibly outs students if faculty or staff learn that a student is transgender.”
There are many more, but for today, I would like to focus on just one — House File 190.
HF 190 Removes “gender identity” as a class from the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Removing “gender identity” strips transgender Iowans of critical protections in the areas of housing, employment, education, public accommodations, and credit practices.
On July 1, 2007, the Iowa Civil Rights Act was expanded by the Iowa Legislature to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected characteristics, Stating it is illegal in Iowa to discriminate against a person because of his/her actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
After being part of the Iowa Civil Rights Act for the last 16 years, my question is simple — Why now? Could it be that if “gender identity” remains in the Iowa code that many of the proposed anti-LGBTQ legislation would violate the Iowa Civil Rights Act? Could it be that some legislators are promoting their own religiously motivated bias against the LGBTQ community, calling gender identity a “mental illness”? (Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Fairfield, Iowa Capital Dispatch 2/2/2023) Could it be a stepping stone to removing other “protected characteristics?
Whatever the reason, HF 190 should not pass. I urge you to contact your representative in Des Moines to voice your opposition to House File 190.
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