While President Donald Trump has been tackling LGBTQ+ activism at the federal level, Iowa has become the first state to pass a bill that removes gender identity from the state’s civil rights law.
On Friday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed SF418, which made its way to her desk with a 33-15 vote in the Senate and a 60-36 vote in the House.
The legislation eliminates “gender identity” as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act. It also defines sex as “the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth.” The text goes on to define other terms such as “male” and “female,” and it states that the term “gender” will be regarded as a “synonym for sex.”
The legislation does not allow changes to birth certificates after an individual undergoes “gender-affirming care,” and it ensures that…
