DES MOINES, Iowa — A bill that would remove gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Act will go before a House subcommittee.
HF 2082 , introduced by Republican Representative Jeff Shipley, aims to completely remove gender identity from the Civil Rights Act and would change the definition of a disability in Iowa Code to include gender dysmorphia diagnoses.
This isn’t the first time a bill has been introduced to remove gender identity as a protected class since it’s addition to the act in 2007. In 2020 a group of Republican lawmakers introduced a similar bill , but House Judiciary Committee Chairman and Republican Representative, Steven Holt, struck down the bill before it could make it to a subcommittee. In 2023, Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would remove gender identity from the act, but didn’t add gender dysmorphia as a disability. That bill never made it to a subcommittee.
Executive Director Cortney Reyes of One Iowa Action, an organization that aims to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ Iowans, released a statement on Thursday following the announcement of the subcommittee hearing.