Thompson said he believes most of these bills won’t advance in the Iowa Legislature, but is still unsure about a few. This kind of anti-trans legislation is coming up in other state legislatures, too, The 19th reported. Other bills would require use of school bathrooms and participation in school sports to be based on a student’s sex assigned at birth. “Their parents kicked them out because of the way they identify, and we see a large portion of the students I’ve worked with that are either homeless or are abused by their parents, or neglected because of the way they identify.” “That would put many students in direct danger,” Thompson said, adding that homeless youth are disproportionately LGBTQ. One bill would ban certain forms of medical care for transgender youth.Īnother would require schools to notify a parent or guardian of their child’s pronouns if they request that information. It’s disheartening for the thousands of students we serve across the state.” “And it is much more targeted, rather than being broad in terms of sexual orientation and gender identity. “It’s definitely accelerating at a pace that we haven’t seen in the past before,” said Damian Thompson, a lobbyist for Iowa Safe Schools. A few Republican lawmakers have proposed a dozen anti-LGBTQ policies in the first few weeks of Iowa’s legislative session.
