Hundreds gathered in the rotunda of the Iowa State Capitol Feb. 27, 2025, protesting legislation to remove gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act that lawmakers are expected to debate on the floor Thursday. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a measure Friday to remove protections from discrimination on the basis of gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
The new law makes Iowa the first state in the nation to remove civil rights protections from a group of individuals designated with a protected status in state code.
The measure, Senate File 418, was the first bill sent to the governor’s desk in 2025 after the House and Senate worked concurrently to approve the measure Thursday. The law removes “gender identity” as a protected class in the state’s civil rights code against discrimination in areas like employment, housing, public accommodations and education.
The legislation also changes definitions in Iowa law on “sex” and “gender,” removes transgender people’s ability to change the sex designated on their birth certificate after receiving gender-affirming medical treatment, and changes language in Iowa law banning material related to gender identity for K-6 students to refer to “gender theory.”
The measure was decried by Democrats and hundreds of protesters who gathered at the state Capitol Thursday who said the proposal will legalize discrimination against transgender Iowans.
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Reynolds says the bill protects women
In a statement Friday, Reynolds said she signed the bill into law because it “safeguards the rights of women and girls.” She said it is “common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women.”
“It is why we have men and women’s bathrooms, but not men and women’s conference rooms; girls’ and boys’ sports, but not girls’ math and boys’ math; separate men and women’s prisons, but not different laws for men and women,” the governor said in a statement. “It is about the biological differences, and that is all. It is also why Iowa has enacted laws protecting girls’ sports for girls and women’s private spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms.”
But Reynolds said laws passed in the state prohibiting transgender women from competing in women’s school sports and banning transgender people from using school locker rooms and restrooms that conflict with their sex assigned at birth are at risk because of the presence of “gender identity” as a protected class in Iowa’s civil rights code. She also referenced a court decision stating that a state law denying Medicaid coverage for gender-confirming surgeries violates the Iowa Constitution and the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
The governor said some Iowans may be uninformed about what the law will do.
“I know this is a sensitive issue for some, many of whom have heard misinformation about what this bill does,” Reynolds said. “The truth is that it simply brings Iowa in line with the federal Civil Rights Code, as well as most states.”
Reynolds did not hold a public bill signing event or allow media coverage of the signing.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, there are currently 23 states that provide protections against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in state law.
Max Mowitz, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa, said Reynolds “has chosen to put Iowa on the wrong side of history.”
“By signing this bill into law, she has made it legal to discriminate against transgender Iowans in nearly every aspect of life — where they live, where they work, and where they go to school,” Mowitz said. “This law sends a devastating message: that transgender Iowans are not worthy of the same rights, dignity, and protections as their neighbors.”
Reynolds said she believes all Iowans “without exception, deserves respect and dignity.”
“We are all children of God, and no law changes that,” the governor said. “What this bill does accomplish is to strengthen protections for women and girls, and I believe that is the right thing to do.”
But Mowitz said the legislation will have substantial impacts on transgender Iowans’ ability to live life and participate in society free from fears about being denied housing, employment or service at businesses because of their gender.
“No one should have to live in fear of being denied housing, fired from their job, or excluded from public life simply because of who they are,” Mowitz said. “Transgender Iowans are part of every community in this state — our families, our workplaces, our schools, our places of worship. They deserve the same safety, stability, and opportunity as anyone else. This law will cause real harm, making daily life harder and more uncertain for countless Iowans who simply want to live openly and authentically. History will not look kindly on this moment.”
Legal challenges to the law are expected.
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