Update on Iowa legislature anti-LGBTQ bills
Gender Equity Forum
From One Iowa:
It has been a couple of weeks since we sent an action alert and there's a good reason for that: the rest of the anti-LGBTQ legislation hasn't had any activity. That's great news because it means that 6 out of the 7 remaining anti-LGBTQ bills have been killed off by the second legislative funnel.
Unfortunately, the religious exemption bill is still on Governor Reynolds's desk. We need you to keep calling her office at 515-281-5211 to tell her to veto SF2095, the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act", which will allow people to pick and choose which laws they will follow based on their religious beliefs.
Remember, though, that we had 40 anti-LGBTQ bills to contend with this year. While RFRA is a major concern, it is the only bill of the 40 still alive. It is because of your voices that the remaining 39, including the LGBTQ Erasure Bill and the bill to remove transgender Iowans from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, have failed. Every time we asked you to show up, you did. And every time you showed up to a subcommittee, those bills failed.
Check out our tracker page here for the latest updates and to review all the harmful legislation you helped kill.
Now the first caveat: these are just the bills that specifically targeted LGBTQ Iowans. There are still bills alive that will disproportionately impact LGBTQ Iowans like HF2586 that will force votes on school resource officers and arm teachers. We will continue to advocate at the legislature with a broad view of the legislation that impacts LGBTQ Iowans.
The second caveat is that even though the specific anti-LGBTQ bills have formally been declared ineligible for debate, that doesn't mean that the policy ideas themselves cannot be attached to eligible legislation. We will need to continue to be vigilant to watch for amendments that resurrect these harmful ideas, and we may need your help again before the end of the session.
All that said: today is a big win for LGBTQ Iowans. One bill passing is undeniably harmful, but seven passing is seven times worse. I continue to be in awe of our community and our allies' ability to come together and fight effectively against hate. Without your hard work, we would be in a much worse position.
Thanks for all you do for LGBTQ Iowans,
Courtney Reyes
She/Her
Executive Director
One Iowa
From One Iowa:
It has been a couple of weeks since we sent an action alert and there's a good reason for that: the rest of the anti-LGBTQ legislation hasn't had any activity. That's great news because it means that 6 out of the 7 remaining anti-LGBTQ bills have been killed off by the second legislative funnel.
Unfortunately, the religious exemption bill is still on Governor Reynolds's desk. We need you to keep calling her office at 515-281-5211 to tell her to veto SF2095, the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act", which will allow people to pick and choose which laws they will follow based on their religious beliefs.
Remember, though, that we had 40 anti-LGBTQ bills to contend with this year. While RFRA is a major concern, it is the only bill of the 40 still alive. It is because of your voices that the remaining 39, including the LGBTQ Erasure Bill and the bill to remove transgender Iowans from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, have failed. Every time we asked you to show up, you did. And every time you showed up to a subcommittee, those bills failed.
Check out our tracker page here for the latest updates and to review all the harmful legislation you helped kill.
Now the first caveat: these are just the bills that specifically targeted LGBTQ Iowans. There are still bills alive that will disproportionately impact LGBTQ Iowans like HF2586 that will force votes on school resource officers and arm teachers. We will continue to advocate at the legislature with a broad view of the legislation that impacts LGBTQ Iowans.
The second caveat is that even though the specific anti-LGBTQ bills have formally been declared ineligible for debate, that doesn't mean that the policy ideas themselves cannot be attached to eligible legislation. We will need to continue to be vigilant to watch for amendments that resurrect these harmful ideas, and we may need your help again before the end of the session.
All that said: today is a big win for LGBTQ Iowans. One bill passing is undeniably harmful, but seven passing is seven times worse. I continue to be in awe of our community and our allies' ability to come together and fight effectively against hate. Without your hard work, we would be in a much worse position.
Thanks for all you do for LGBTQ Iowans,
Courtney Reyes
She/Her
Executive Director
One Iowa
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