Iowa governor signs bill removing transgender protections from civil rights code

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Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill on Friday that removes protections for transgender people in the state’s civil rights code. 

While not every state has protections for transgender people, Iowa Democrats added them to the civil rights code in 2007. 

Iowa is the first state to remove gender identity protection from its state civil rights code. 

The new law follows President Donald Trump's executive orders only recognizing two sexes, restricting sex change operations and restricting trans people in the military, as well as state efforts to ban trans women from women’s bathrooms and women’s sports. 

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Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill on Friday that removes protections for transgender people in the state’s civil rights code.? (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

The bill also defines male and female based on the person’s reproductive organs at birth. 

Iowa’s civil rights code will still include protections for race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin and disability status.

Reynolds described the bill in a video she uploaded to X on Friday. 

"Today I’m signing into law a bill that safeguards the rights of women and girls," she said. "It’s commonsense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it’s necessary to secure genuine equal protection for girls. It’s why we have men and women’s bathrooms, but not men and women’s conference rooms. Girls' and boys' sports, but not girls' math, boys' math." 

She said that "these commonsense protections were at risk because, before I signed this bill, the civil rights code blurred the biological line between the sexes." 

Protesters fill the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday to denounce a bill that would strip the state civil rights code of protections based on gender identity. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Reynolds acknowledged that it is a "sensitive issue for some, many of whom have heard misinformation about what this bill does. The truth is that it simply brings Iowa in line with the federal civil rights code, as well as most states."

She added that every Iowan, "without exception, deserves respect and dignity. We are all children of God and no law changes that." 

Trump signaled his approval of the law on Thursday, shortly before it was signed. 

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"Iowa, a beautiful State that I have won BIG every time, has a Bill to remove Radical Gender Ideology from their Laws," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Iowa should follow the lead of my Executive Order, saying there are only two genders, and pass this Bill – AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. Thank you Iowa!"

Critics of the law say it will allow transgender people to be discriminated against in all aspects of life. 

Democratic Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl reacts after speaking during a debate on the bill on Thursday. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Democratic Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, who identifies as a transgender woman, said, "The purpose of this bill and the purpose of every anti-trans bill is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence. The sum total of every anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bill is to make our existence illegal."

Protesters also filled the state Capitol’s rotunda on Thursday, holding up signs like "Trans rights are human rights" and shouting, "No hate in our state!" 

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Keenan Crow, who directs policy and advocacy for the LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa, told The Associated Press that the group will take any legal action "available," adding that they’re still trying to understand how the law will be enforced. 

All Democrats in the state House and Senate voted against the bill and were joined by five House Republicans. 

The law goes into effect July 1. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.