Activists protest Reynolds’ bill excluding transgender people from certain facilities

Hundreds of activists rallied in the Iowa Capitol rotunda Monday evening as lawmakers held a public hearing on Gov. Kim Reynolds’ bill defining of “male” and “female” in Iowa Code and excluding transgender people from sex-segregated spaces.

House File 2389 has already passed through the committee process, and is available for debate by the House of Representatives. The bill would allow transgender people to be excluded from spaces like bathrooms, locker rooms and domestic abuse or sexual assault shelters.

It also would require that birth certificates list a transgender person’s sex at birth as well as their sex after gender reassignment treatment. A previous version of the bill would have required driver’s licenses to list a person’s sex at birth and sex designation after transitioning. That a measure was removed by the House Education Committee.

Much of the discussion at the public hearing was about the scientific basis of “sex.” The bill creates a new definition in state law that defines a female as “a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova,” and a male as “a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.”

Steve Deace, a conservative talk show host, told lawmakers that people who oppose the legislation want to “deny the most basic fact of human biology.”

“What we’re being asked to do is ignore reality, to redefine reality,” Deace said. “We are not permitted to redefine reality. The worst mistakes made in human history occur when we attempt to.”

But others said that this definition of “sex” would not just exclude transgender Iowans from being classified as their preferred gender, but could harm many cisgender people as well. Attorney Breanna Young said the definition of “female” as laid out in the bill would exclude women who have medical conditions that prevent them from producing ova. That includes women who have polycystic ovary syndrome — a condition that impacts between 8% and 13% of reproductive-aged women, according to the World Health Organization.

Other definitions from the bill, like limiting the definition of “mother” to a parent who is “female” under state law could prevent a person with a reproductive condition from being legally understood as the parent to their child, Young said.

“I know the intention of this bill is to target transgender siblings, children, other Iowans,” Young said. “But believe me when I tell you there will be unintended consequences.”

Amber Williams a supporter of the bill, said the measure was needed to stop efforts to “dissolve sex as a stable legal category” or to redefine sex to include gender identity, saying that such efforts would “create legal chaos.” In Iowa, “gender identity” is a protected class under the Civil Rights Act, and a recent proposal to remove it failed in subcommittee.

Williams said the governor’s bill is needed to combat “gender ideology propaganda” in schools and on social media, and to keep women safe by allowing sex-segregated spaces.

“We, as women, should not have to share our safe spaces with a man. Period. Ever,” Williams said. “This only violates our privacy, but also places our safety at risk.”

Becky Tayler, executive director of Iowa Safe Schools, said that in the nearly two decades of equal facility access on the basis of gender identity in Iowa, there have been no accusations of criminal conduct in locker rooms, restrooms or school facilities due to the accommodation.

Tayler, alongside other opponents, also criticized the bill provision stating that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.” The definition goes against U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Brown v. Board of Education that found “separate but equal” facilities were inequitable.

“If the term ‘equal’ does not mean same or identical, as this bill states, can anyone in this room championing this bill clarify for me what the term equal means?” Tayler asked.

As speakers supporting the bill talked, protesters held chants of “you will not erase us” and “we will not go silently.” Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, who led the meeting, paused speakers when chants became too loud. Wheeler said he would not give in to a “heckler’s veto.”

“We have been able to hear people even if we disagree with them,” Wheeler said.

This story was originally published in the Iowa Capital Dispatch