State Sen. Zach Wahls, the leader of Senate Democrats in Iowa, spoke out against a bill that protects women’s sports in Iowa during Tuesday’s LGBTQ+ Day on the Hill. Wahls called on Republicans to bring forward real solutions to real problems rather than pitting Iowans against each other.
“Trans rights are human rights,” he said. “We could pass a bill that brings together experts who actually understand these issues and help us consider this debate in a fair, nonpartisan, nonpolitical way that balances our concerns about fairness in athletics with our Iowa values of inclusion, equality, self-determination and the freedom to be who we are. But that is not what Republican politicians have chosen to do. Instead, they have chosen to politicize the issue.
“To put forward such an exclusionary and divisive piece of legislation demonstrates that for Republican politicians, this isn’t about fairness at all, it’s about scoring political points and they’re willing to play politics with the lives of children in order to score those points. It’s shameful.”
Wahls said the bill will not just hurt trans Iowans, but it will hurt their classmates, their teammates, their families and all Iowans.
“When Iowa Republicans advance divisive and polarizing legislation like this proposal, they send a clear message that our state is more interested in the culture war than growing our economy, creating more jobs and building thriving communities for every Iowan,” he added.
Wahls said as a Democrat he doesn’t always agree with corporate America, but on this issue, they get it right.
Transgenderism is NOT A RIGHT. It is a CHOICE. Just because A person chooses a decision to change how they feel about themselves, that choice does not have to be legislated to change laws that make my children unsafe and take away their opportunities to live in safety and compete in sports with people that live as the biological boys and girls and men and women that they were created by God Almighty to be.