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Guide: All you need to know about Anti-Trans Legislation Introduced in Iowa

Advocacy

Unfortunately, 2021 has begun with an onslaught of anti-trans legislation in both the Iowa Senate and House.

Image of the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines

Many of the proposed bills target transgender youth due in part to the capacity to control Iowa’s public schools through the legislature. There are a lot of senators and representatives that need to hear from us to ensure these bills do not move forward. Call and email our legislatures to tell them we love transgender Iowans and make it clear that we will fight harder than they ever imagined in order to protect trans youth.

Click here to understand how a bill becomes law in Iowa

This guide provides information on each bill, the members of the house or senate most crucial to contact, and for some of the bills there are template emails to download and use that were compiled by a community member and based on the information provided by Iowa Safe Schools.

*This page will be continually updated if new bills are introduced, if there are responses from legislators to share, or to update information about planned actions or events in response to these bills. Last updated February 18th.

Our Biggest Opponents

In the House:

Rep. Jeff Shipley

Jeff Shipley of Van Buren has already proposed five anti-trans bills: HF 326, HF 327, HF 340, HF 341, and HF 405. Shipley is a “knowledgable” anti-trans bill proposer as he is armed with the highly problematic, transphobic, and TERFist book written by investigative journalist Abigail Shrier. Shrier’s book blows topics such as “detransitioning” and the mental health “craze” facing youth (and Shrier targets youth assigned female at birth in this book) out of proportion. Yet itt has become the only weapon in the conservative arsenal for the attack on gender affirming healthcare and the parental and personal freedoms of families and trans people in Iowa and other states.

Our director, Aiden Bettine, spoke and texted with Jeff Shipley regarding his five proposed anti-trans bills, follow this link for the transcript, texts, and recording of their interactions to hear first hand how Shipley is defending his proposed legislation.

Call him: 319-432-3108
Email him: Jeff.Shipley@legis.iowa.gov
Write to him: 12245 Jasmine Ave. Birmingham, IA 52535

Rep. Sandy Salmon

Sandy Salmon of Black Hawk county has proposed four separate bills to the house thus far HF 184, HF 187, HF193, and HF272. Salmon is clearly a pawn in Project Blitz’s pocket to promote anti-trans legislation. Based on her inability to speak to all of the bills she has proposed at our caravan to her February 6th town hall in Denver, IA, Salmon is ill-equipped to argue in support of this legislation.

Call her: 319-987-3021
Email her: Sandy.Salmon@legis.iowa.gov
Write her: 9711 Streeter Rd. Janesville, IA 50647

In the Senate:

Senator Amy Sinclair

Senator Amy Sinclair of Wayne County is the Education Committee Chair and has personally proposed SF 80 and is a co-signer on SF 167.  A major concern is that all three anti-trans bills in the Iowa Senate are directed to the Education Committee and Sinclair has already assigned each a sub committee. She wants these bills to move forward and has a lot of power to make that happen.

Call her: 641-870-0199
Email her: Amy.Sinclair@legis.iowa.gov
Write her: 1255 King Rd, Allerton, IA 50008

Senator Jim Carlin

Senator Jim Carlin of Woodbury County sits on the Education Committee and solely introduced SF 224, the anti-trans bathroom bill targeted at elementary and secondary schools. He also co-signed SF 167 the bill to block curriculum that includes gender identity in grades 1-6 in Iowa schools. Carlin serves as subcommittee chair for both bills and has passed them through to the full committee, where he will serve as the main supporter of each of these two bills. We need to make it clear to Senator Carlin, we will not stand for his attack on transgender youth.

Call him: 712-253-4270
Email him: Jim.Carlin@legis.iowa.gov
Write him: 43 Arlington Rd, Sioux City, IA 51106

Iowa State Senate

To contact any of our Senators at the Capitol by calling and leaving a message use 515-281-3371

All three of the anti-trans bills in the Iowa Senate have been referred to the Education Committee. To email the full membership of this senate committee regarding all anti-trans bills, download a copyable list:

Full Senate Education Committee Email List

Contact the following senators on the Education Committee about all three of the proposed bills below:

Bills in the Senate

Senate File 80

SF 80 is a bill relating to pronoun usage in Iowa public schools and in essence “outs” transgender students to their parents. Under this bill if a school or school employee surveys students regarding their preferred pronouns, the school must first notify parents prior to the survey and then must provide the student’s answers to parents or guardians upon request. SF 80 is proposed by Senator Amy Sinclair and directed to the Education Committee, note that Sinclair is Chair.

A subcommittee has been assigned to SF 80 that includes Sinclair and the following two senators to also contact:

Senate File 167

Here is a Response Template for SF 167 to download

SF 167 passed through subcommittee on February 16th, 2021. This means the bill is moving forward to be reviewed and discussed by the full education committee before it can go to the Senate floor.

SF 167 is a bill that strips gender identity from school curriculum from Kindergarten through grade six in Iowa Schools. Schools/School districts cannot reintroduce gender identity in curriculum without express written permission from parents or guardians. SF 167 was introduced by Senators Jim Carlin, Jason Schultz, Jeff Taylor, Craig Johnson, Mike Klimesh, Amy Sinclair, Ken Rozenboom, and Tom Shipley and directed at the Education Committee.

A subcommittee has been assigned to SF 167 comprised with the following senators to also contact:

Senate File 224

SF 224 passed through subcommittee on February 10th, 2021. This means the bill is moving forward to be reviewed and discussed by the full education committee before it can go to the Senate floor.

SF 224 is a trans bathroom ban bill (not to be confused with HF 187) targeted specifically at elementary and secondary public schools. It restricts multiple and sing occupancy restrooms to be used solely based on “biological sex.” SF 224 was introduced by Senator Jim Carlin and directed to the Education Committee

A subcommittee has been assigned to SF 224 comprised with the following senators to also contact:

The Iowa House of Representatives

To contact any of our Representatives at the Capitol by calling and leaving a message use 515-281-3221

To mass email all members of the following committees in response to a range of bills, download a copyable list:

Full House Education Committee Email List

Full House Judiciary Committee Email List

Full House Human Resources Committee Email List

Bills in the House:

House File 184

Here is a Response Template for HF 184 to download

HF 184 is a bill that would ban trans athletes from sports at all levels in Iowa Schools including college athletics at Regent Universities by restricting athletes to playing on teams based upon “biological sex.” Introduced by Rep. Sandy Salmon, HF 184 is directed to the Education Committee, please contact committee members to speak out against this bill. Contact at least these members:

House File 187

Here is a Response Template for HF 187 to download

HF 187 is yet another bathroom ban bill targeted at educational institutions in the state. Meaning preschool-through college level institutions would not be legally allowed to provide bathrooms that correlate to students, staff, and faculty members’ gender identity. Proposed by Rep. Sandy Salmon, HF 187 is directed to the Judiciary Committee, please contact the following committee members to speak out against this bill:

Update: Judiciary Committee Chair Steven Holt has stated in an emailed response to our director, “I will not be advancing HF 187 out of Judiciary.” But we have to hold him accountable to this statement.

House File 193

Here is a Response Template for HF 193 to Download

HF 193 is perhaps the most egregious of the three and blocks gender-affirming medical care from being provided to trans youth in Iowa. It states that transgender youth “will outgrow” their discordance between their biological sex and gender identity and “will eventually have a gender identity that aligns with their sex.” Proposed by Rep. Sandy Salmon, HF 183 is directed to the Human Resources Committee. Contact the leadership on this committee to fight this dangerous bill:

House File 272

HF 272 is a bill that would remove gender identity from protected class status in Iowa under the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Removing protections would allow for discrimination against transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming Iowans in the realms of employment, wages, public accommodations, housing, education, and credit practices. HF 272 was introduced by Representatives Dean Fisher, Skyler Wheeler, Mark Cisneros, and Sandy Salmon and referred to the Judiciary Committee. Contact information for members:

House File 326

HF 326 is a bill that requires any school district that has curriculum about gender identity must also include “references to gender dysphoria the existence of transition regret and detransition, and the potential harm and adverse outcomes of social and medical gender interventions” Conservative media has taken to narratives of de-transitioning to discredit transgender people and to argue that gender affirming medical care is harmful. In reality less than 1% of the trans community has “de-transitioned.” To conflate de-transitioning and gender identity curriculum as two sides of one coin is a dangerous legislative move. HF 326 was introduced by Representative Jeff Shipley and directed to the Education Committee. Again, their contact information:

House File 327

HF 327 is a bill that strengthens the legal repercussion for medical providers treating transgender youth by outlining each aspect a physician must disclose to parents, guardians, and minors. It also legally requires written parent or guardian consent for treatment and gender affirming care. Although on the surface this bill does not appear anti-trans, it was proposed by Representative Jeff Shipley with a slew of anti-trans bills and ultimately creates more Barries for youth to receive gender affirming care. The informed consent of parents/guardians is already a standard of care. HF 327 is directed to the Human Resources Committee, their contacts are:

House File 334

HF 334 is another sports bill that defines eligible participation on the basis of biological sex in public schools, regent institutions, and community colleges. It was introduced by Representative Jeff Shipley and directed to the Education Committee. Contact at least these members:

House File 340

HF 340 is a bill amending the Iowa Civil Rights act that essentially ranks sex, as in biological sex, over gender identity in the realm of protections. It also codifies a transphobic definition of “woman” to mean “a person born with female genitalia and reproductive organs.” This bill was introduced by Representative Jeff Shipley and referred to the Judiciary Committee. Contact information for members:

House File 341

HF 341 is a bill that removes the statute of limitations for physicians, surgeons, osteopathic physicians, pharmacists, chiropractors, physician assistants, nurses, or hospitals that cause injuries “rising out of patient care for cross-sex hormone treatment, surgery, or any other medical intervention or device associated with identity disorder.” Again this bill sounds like a good thing, yet it is ultimately making the legal assumption that gender affirming care will cause “injuries” outside of the measures for medical malpractice already in place in Iowa. This bill operates under the assumption that many trans people de-transition and therefore are “injured” by gender affirming care, which is inaccurate. This bill was introduced by Representative Jeff Shipley in his package of anti-trans bills. This bill is referred to the Judiciary Committee. Contact information for the committee:

House File 405

HF 405 is the third bathroom bill, yes third, to be proposed in the Iowa Legislature and the fifth anti-trans bill proposed by Rep. Jeff Shipley and specifically applies to public accommodations including toilets, locker room facilities, living facilities, and showers. This bill is referred to the Judiciary Committee. Contact information for the committee:

One Reply to “Guide: All you need to know about Anti-Trans Legislation Introduced in Iowa”

  1. Pingback: A Caravan To House Rep. Sandy Salmon Saturday, February 6th – LGBTQ Iowa Archives & Library

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