Eighteen years after Iowa's Governor Chet Culver signed civil rights protections for LGBTQ individuals, Republican lawmakers passed a bill to eliminate those protections for transgender Iowans. This would make Iowa the first state to revoke broad protections for transgender individuals, pending the signature of Governor Kim Reynolds. The legislative debate illustrated the changing landscape around LGBTQ rights, especially in light of national trends under the Trump administration that include limiting recognition and resources for transgender identities and rights.
Advocates for L.G.B.T.Q. rights said Iowa would become the first state to remove broad and explicit protections for transgender people if Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the measure.
The debate in Des Moines,...reflected how much the discourse over transgender issues has shifted in the country, and how much Iowa has changed.
We send a message that intolerance and discrimination have no place in our state," Mr. Culver said at the time.
The passage of the Iowa legislation comes as the Trump administration has tried to limit official recognition of transgender identity.
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