Iowa is moving backward, and quickly
Backward. That’s how I now describe Iowa. Backward. And it makes me cry. Iowa’s never felt like the easiest place to get to know people. Since I moved here for college in 1968, I’ve been asked a million times, “What are you doing in Iowa?” And now I’m wondering myself, “What AM I doing in Iowa?” With efforts to exclude people who don’t fit the mold of a stereotypical Iowan becoming the rule, Iowa’s provincialism is only getting worse.
Over the decades I’ve seen Iowa make life a little easier for women, and for my friends who are gay, and more welcoming to immigrants. And then sometime in the past decade we started going backward. Backward. Our government (and that means the voters) are making every effort to send the message that we aren’t welcome here. Unless we look like some notion of a wholesome, cornfed, rosy-cheeked lass or lad in gingham. Backward.
Now the Legislature has established a subcommittee, and scheduled hearings on House File 2082. This bill would remove protections for transgender people, and relegate them to the definition of “disabled.” Even as I write this, I am at a loss for words. Red flags are waving furiously in the prairie wind. This action signals that the Legislature, and of course the governor, may seriously consider this action during this session.