Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says it’s “disappointing” that House Republicans plan to vote this week on a bill to repeal state civil rights protections for transgender Iowans.
“It’s unfortunate that the Republicans again want to bring up things that are more of a culture war than they are about things that truly are important to making Iowa a better place to live,” Hart said this weekend during an appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.
A subcommittee hearing gets underway at 11 a.m. this morning on a bill to remove gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Hart said Democrats “stand firmly” on the idea that everyone should have civil rights and the bill takes Iowa “backwards.”
“Let’s be clear,” Hart said. “We’re talking about the rights to housing, the rights to a credit card, the rights that help you exist on this planet on any kind of effective way.”
House Speaker Pat Grassley said laws Republicans have recently passed to protect women’s sports and and to ban hormone treatment and gender reassignment surgery for minors are in danger of being overturned in court if gender identity remains in the Iowa Civil Rights Act. The bill that would remove gender identity from that law is expected to pass subcommittee review around noon and is scheduled for a vote in a House Committee later today. That would make the bill eligible for debate in the full House later this week.