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Good morning! Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Iowa Legislative session. What are YOU most hopeful to see them tackle?
I have a few things. And I have documented this one over and over, but the legislature’s inaction has provided consequences over and over. So if this seems like it’s overkill, well, take it up with Republicans who have controlled this state for eight years and not solved this problem.
The problem? Gender identity being included in the Iowa Civil Rights Code. This happened in 2007 when Democrats had a trifecta, similar to the trifecta Republicans have held for eight straight years. However, adding gender identity to the civil rights code can’t just be pinned on Democrats. The bill passed in the Iowa House with 59 votes. A bill needs 51 votes to pass the Iowa House. In 2007, exactly NINE Republicans voted to add gender identity to the civil rights code.
What’s transpired since? Iowa students have encountered individuals who are the opposite sex/gender in their bathroom at school, making them extremely uncomfortable. A teenage girl went topless at the Pella pool because she “identifies” as a boy. A man who “identifies” as a woman infiltrated the women’s facilities at the Forest City YMCA. I could go on and on, but does it really matter?
OK, I’ll do one more. Today, in Cedar Rapids, at the USA Wrestling State Tournament, an actual girl will not be able to win state because she refuses to wrestle against a boy who “identifies” as a girl — in the 3/4 grade division.
Iowa’s so-called “protect girls’ sports” law doesn’t apply here because it isn’t a high school or college sport. But Iowa’s so-called “protect girls’ sports” law also doesn’t really protect girls’ sports because while Iowa-based schools are not allowed to have men on their women’s teams, any team from any of the 49 other states are free to include men on their women’s teams for events in Iowa.
Right now, in a matter of minutes from the time I am sending this newsletter to your inbox, a young Iowa girl is having to give up her chance to be a state champion because a boy who “identifies” as a girl is in her bracket.
Because Iowa is one of just 22 or so states that provide protections based on gender identity in its civil rights code, and Utah is the only other “red” state on this list — mind you, a little Iowa girl has to give up a dream and instead take a stand because adults are not running the show at USA Wrestling, it appears the inmates are instead.
And Iowa’s civil rights law actually backs up USA Wrestling’s position. I mean, if “gender identity” is a thing, then it’s true for all of us.
But it’s absurd.
Last year when State Rep. Jeff Shipley had a bill to remove gender identity from the civil rights code and instead provide civil rights protections to anyone diagnosed with gender dysphoria, about 300 or 400 trans-activists from across Iowa decided to show up at the Capitol and act completely crazy to prove gender dysphoria isn’t a mental issue. Bold strategy. And, sadly, due to Republican cowardice, it worked.
In fact, a member of House Republican leadership even told The Des Moines Register they think it’s a bad move to strip gender identity from the civil rights code because Iowans may take it as a free pass to discriminate.
According to this member of Iowa House leadership, the only thing keeping you from “discriminating” against men who think they are women and vice versa is the civil rights code.
What a joke.
Some people struggle to understand why this is an important issue. I can give you three very quick reasons:
- Because for decades our civil rights laws provided protections for men and women based on their sex. These protections exist for obvious reasons. However, it is impossible to protect based BOTH on sex and gender identity because the two are polar opposites. If you’re needing protection based on your sex, but someone else is needing protection based on their so-called gender identity, then people protected based on their sex will be trumped by those being protected based on their so-called “gender identity.” You can’t keep people of the male sex out of women’s restrooms if you are providing protections to men who “identify” as the female gender.
- Because they are attempting to codify a lie. Some people are born male. Some people are born female. A male cannot become a female. A female cannot become a male. If genitals don’t determine gender, then why do they alter the genitals to “affirm gender?” While Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson may not know what a woman is due to not being a biologist, we all KNOW what a woman is. And we know what a man is. We know what the differences are. We know that we cannot truly change our sex. We can change our parts. We can suppress our hormones. But we cannot change our DNA and we cannot change how God made us intrinsically. They are attempting to force you to believe a lie. If they can force you to call a man a woman and a woman a man, what can’t they do next?
- Because the most dangerous people in the world are the people who think they are God, to quote Tucker Carlson. And that is what people who believe they can change or pick their sex believe they are — God. And, to keep quoting Tucker, when people who think they are God are reminded that they are not God, they get very, very angry. Thus the insanity constantly displayed by trans-activists.
This year could get interesting, though. With the addition of Joseph “Aime” Wichtendahl to the Iowa House of Representatives, the issue has hit home for the legislature. I know there are some females in the Iowa House who do not believe they should have to share a restroom with a man. Or that a man should have access to their female-only facilities.
I know some of those females in the Iowa House want the House rules to reflect their position that promotes basic biology — similar to the rules passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
And they should make sure the rules do support biology and follow the science. But how can they provide the same protections for themselves that they are denying every other Iowa woman at the same time by keeping gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Code?
I am telling you, think back on all the cultural battles of your life and ask yourself, which of the battles have conservatives actually won? Have we slowed down the insanity? Yes. But have we stopped it? Not really. I mean, here we are in 2025 with an entire political party that believes men can be women and women can be men and we can change our sex. And actually, not just an entire political party who believes it, but some Republicans elected in the Iowa Legislature believe it.
I feel for people who are caught up in the lie that is transgenderism. I honestly do. I cannot imagine how horrible it is to be living with that confusion. But you know what only adds to the horror? Going along with that delusion.
By codifying “gender identity” in the Iowa Civil Rights Code, that is exactly what we are doing. We need our Republican-dominated legislature to step up this year, finally, and do the right thing and lead. They need to be the adults in the room. They need to take control. They need to stand for sanity.
There is no better time than the present. Let’s roll.
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