Protestors flooded the Iowa State Capitol this week to object to House File 583 and Senate File 418, bills that would remove civil rights protections for transgender and gender diverse Iowans.

If passed through both chambers and signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, which could happen as soon as today (Thursday, Feb. 27), the law would amend the Iowa Civil Rights Act to no longer include gender identity as a protected class.

Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the move is necessary to protect other state laws passed in recent years, including banning transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming medical care, restricting transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity and banning transgender women and girls from competing in female sports, from being struck down in court.

But opponents of the bill say the move would allow entities to discriminate against transgender people in many ways, including in the workplace.

“What is happening is they are trying to make it so that transgender Iowans can be legally discriminated against in a number of different areas. One of those areas is, of course, employment,” said Keenan Crow, director of policy and advocacy at One Iowa. “They are removing all state level employment protections for transgender folks, allowing folks to fire them or pay them less or schedule them differently from non-transgender employees, which they currently cannot do under law.”

Iowa Code 216, also known as the Iowa Civil Rights Act, protects Iowans against discrimination on the basis of age, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion or disability. Jo Ellen Whitney, an employment attorney with Dentons Davis Brown, explained that the law provides a legal structure for discrimination claims.

“In its simplest form, it’s a ‘because of’ test. It allows people to come forward and say, ‘this wasn’t fair, I was treated differently because I fit in this category,’ and it gives them a framework for bringing that forward,” Whitney said. “It gives you a legal structure to say, ‘I was treated differently for a reason that doesn’t relate to how I do my job.’”

Whitney said the removal of gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act would make it more difficult for transgender and nonbinary Iowans to bring those claims against employers to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.

Gender identity discrimination would still be barred on a federal level, but those protections don’t apply to businesses with fewer than 15 employees. Current Iowa law applies to businesses with four or more employees.

The reversal of protections could also affect Iowans who may not identify as transgender or nonbinary, but who do not fit stereotypical gendered definitions. Whitney pointed to a 1997 United States Supreme Court case that demonstrates this principle.

“In Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., Oncale worked on oil platform rigs and he got picked on all the time by the other male employees. Not because he was gay, not because he identified as a different gender, but because he didn’t meet their expectations of what a man should be. He was smaller than a lot of the other men, and that is a component of gender identity,” she said.

Crow said One Iowa has received an influx of calls from Iowans in crisis this last week because of the legislation. The organization has heard from Iowans fearing for their lives or mental health. Many say they are actively making plans to move out of Iowa, Crow said.

The legislation could hurt Iowa’s population at a time the state is already facing a shrinking workforce, the advocates say.

“One of the things that would concern me as a business person is anything that makes it harder to hire people,” Whitney said. “It can cut off a portion of our employment pool.”

Crow said that it could deter people of many different identities from moving to or living in Iowa.

“When you tell an entire group of people, ‘We don’t care, we’re going to take your civil rights and there’s nothing you can do about it, we’re going to do it in a week and there’s no way that you can push back,’ a lot of other folks who may not fit the kind of cookie-cutter stereotype of what an Iowan is supposed to look like get nervous. Whose rights are next?” Crow said.

Businesses that have previously spoken out remain silent
When former Gov. Chet Culver signed the law adding gender identity and sexual orientation to the Iowa Civil Rights Act in 2007, he did so at Principal Financial Group’s offices in downtown Des Moines, the Des Moines Register reported. Large companies like Principal and business organizations, like the Iowa Chamber Alliance, the Iowa Business Council and the Greater Des Moines Partnership, that have previously registered in opposition to similar bills removing gender identity as a protected class have not currently done so, according to the Register.

“We have had worker shortages for the last several years. Workforce has been at the top of the agenda for a number of the major business groups here in Iowa, and yet their total and complete silence on the removal of the civil rights of Iowans is an abdication of both their moral and their economic responsibility,” Crow said.

Two years ago, a number of small businesses spoke out as the Iowa Legislature pushed bills that could negatively affect the LGBTQ community, the Business Record reported at the time.

Ozzy Orozco, a transgender man, moved away from the state in 2021 because of lack of support for the LGBTQ community in Iowa, he told the Business Record in 2023. Orozco said if businesses support their LGBTQ employees, they need to step up in opposition to the legislation.

“Now’s the time to step up and be an ally,” he said in 2023. “If that’s part of your company’s values and you’re supportive of your LGBTQ employees, step up and show it.