Discrimination Based on Gender Identity Now Legal

The law protects us against discrimination. However, a recent bill signed by Kim Reynolds removes protections from discrimination based on gender identity. Some people agree with this bill being signed into law. However, this brings worry to many Iowa citizens. This can naturally be expected, seeing as gender identity is a very controversial subject, and taking away protections from a minority is a large matter.

This bill, Senate File 418, also known as SF418, was signed into law on February 28th, 2025. It specifically removes pre-existing protections exclusively for gender identity. It also amends any mention of gender in the law that relates to certificates of birth. Furthermore, that section of the bill makes it so that birth certificates can no longer mention if the person has had a sex change. Lastly, the bill forbids schools from containing “gender theory” or sexual orientation within their curriculum grades kindergarten through sixth. According to SF418, gender theory means, “The concept that an individual may properly be described in terms of an internal sense of gender that is incongruent with the individual’s sex as either male or female,” and it includes, “The concept that an individual who experiences distress or discomfort with the individual’s sex should identify as and live consistent with the individual’s internal sense of gender.”

Kim Reynolds made a Facebook post about the bill on February 28th. Reynolds said, “Today, I signed into law a bill that safeguards the rights of women and girls.” In the same post, she said, “Every Iowan, without exception, deserves respect and dignity.” Despite that, she was targeting one specific group’s protections. Reynolds also claimed that Iowa taxpayers were being forced to pay for gender reassignment surgeries. In the post, gendered bathrooms and sports were briefly brought up. She did not further elaborate fully explaining how the bill was supposed to protect girls by taking away rights from trans Iowans.

Iowa citizens are no longer protected in housing, employment, education, et cetera, from discrimination based on their gender identity. This is obviously scary to many people. One must bring into question whether someone deserves all of that to be put at risk simply because of the gender they identify as. Every citizen, even those who are not trans, has a gender identity. It is simply the gender that you identify as. If you were assigned male at birth and you still agree with that as a man, you identify as a man.

The Senate File states that “The term “equal” does not mean “same” or “identical,” and, “Separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.” But when one group receives protections and the other has theirs removed, that is inherently unequal.

Felix Courtright, a sophomore at WHS, gave his opinion on the law, “I think Kim Reynolds should actually be honest with the people of our state and tell us what’s really happening, instead of spreading false information and rumors, which makes these bills here seem like they are being passed by a petty school child who is bullying someone they’ve only ever seen in the hallways. I really don’t agree with this bill and all the discrimination it spreads.” He further continued, “One of the things I wished is that these lawmakers and people voting for this kind of legislation could at least understand the people they are voting against, because without that it feels like someone telling you what’s best for the sheep without meeting or being the shepherd if that makes sense. I just really hope that someday she could just sit down and listen to a single person this is affecting. Then maybe she’d realize how petty and selfish this law sounds. It’s not ok.”

Graphic by Charlotte Blakley using Canva