Republicans: "There are only Two Sexes"
Science: "That's not true"
In 2007, the Iowa Legislature added gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which protects trans-Iowans from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and more.
The Iowa Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, ancestry, disability and gender identity.
Republicans want to remove gender identity as a protected class, and may well do so this week.
Gender identity: One's innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.
Trans Iowans and their allies protested Monday and Tuesday, and a public hearing on Thursday. I was there on Monday. The crowd at the end of the event was even larger.
I asked Tiara Mays-Sims why she was there:
For one, I serve on the Heartland AEA board and I support public education and our students. And I know that there are a lot of students that identify how they identify. Overall though, just as a citizen of Iowa, I don't think it's right that we are limiting civil rights. That's something that for many generations we've been fighting to have those rights added into constitutional amendments, our state amendment, our constitutional amendment, the federal Constitution.
So I don't see how you go backwards on that. And I want not only our kids, but adults and Iowans to just feel welcome and inclusive and unfortunately, it doesn't feel like that right now.
I also interviewed Johnson County Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz, Iowa’s first trans-county Supervisor. Below is our conversation. (my original post incorrectly said that V was the first elected official in the state of Iowa. Aime Wichtendahl was Iowa's first trans-elected official (Hiawatha City Council, 2015).
At one point the Troopers tried to push us back from the rotunda, but if you watch this, you will see it didn’t work. The troopers could have escalated this, and I’m glad they didn’t. I understand two people were arrested, but I didn’t see it.
We were told people in the room where the legislation was being discussed couldn’t hear because the chanting was too loud. The crowd brought down the noise for a bit, but not for long. I was hoping they would increase the volume when told to tone it down, but wiser heads than mine prevailed.
A friend tells me some Republicans didn’t like this chant, and I understand why. But the “Fuck you fascists” has a nice ring to it, I think.
Clergy were out in force, especially Lutherans and Episcopalians as I could see, and a few were also chanting,”Fuck you fascists!”
I ran into fellow Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member Avery Gregurich and his partner Sara Williams. Avery is one of the best writers I know and writes at The Five and Dime. Check it out.
Republican Steven Holt, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, tries to make the case that the proposed legislation is about protecting women, including protecting women’s sports.
Holt boldly says that the legislation will allow discrimination against trans people on multiple fronts, including:
They will not be able to file legal complaints against a business that believes sex is binary and acts accordingly.
They will not have the ability to file legal complaints against an employer who does not affirm the validity of an individual’s self-proclaimed gender identity.
Apparently unaware of the concept of contradiction, Holt says:
In spite of the loud proclamations otherwise, transgender Iowans will have the same rights and protections as everyone else, but their removal as a protected class will prevent the infringement on the rights of others, particularly women.
So, the mere existence of trans people infringes on the rights of others. Got it.
So where does the legislation stand now? The Des Moines Register reports:
Senate Republicans passed Senate File 418 out of a subcommittee hearing Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday, House Republicans swiftly passed their own version of the legislation, House File 583 (renamed from House Study Bill 242), through the House Judiciary Committee. The chamber has set a public hearing for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, setting up a possible floor vote this week.
The legislation would require birth certificates to reflect an Iowan's sex at birth as either male or female.
Also according to the Register:
The bill adds new definitions for "male," "female" and "sex" in state law.
It redefines "sex" to mean "the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth."
It defines "female" as an individual who has or will have "a reproductive system that at some point produces ova."
It defines "male" as a person who has or will have "a reproductive system that at some point produces sperm."
The Register’s description sounds relatively benign. It’s not, however, and has sinister consequences. Consider the original text in the archaic system the legislature uses:
Let’s unpack some of this language. In legal terms: A “Natural person” is a synonym of “physical person” and refers to a human being with legal rights and responsibilities.
A legal person refers to an entity that is recognized by law as having legal rights and obligations, similar to a natural person, but the definition includes corporations, government agencies, NGOs, and other organizations.
It doesn’t mean trans people are “unnatural.”
Notice, however, that a “female means an individual who through the course of normal development, or would have but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, a reproductive system that at some point produces ova.”
And that a “male means an individual who through the course of normal development, or would have but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, a reproductive system that at some point produces sperm.”
Trans people thereby are considered abnormal. And of having a disorder.
This defies science.
“Sex can be much more complicated than it at first seems. According to the simple scenario, the presence or absence of a Y chromosome is what counts: with it, you are male, and without it, you are female. But doctors have long known that some people straddle the boundary—their sex chromosomes say one thing, but their gonads (ovaries or testes) or sexual anatomy say another. Parents of children with these kinds of conditions—known as intersex conditions, or differences or disorders of sex development (DSDs)—often face difficult decisions about whether to bring up their child as a boy or a girl. Some researchers now say that as many as 1 person in 100 has some form of DSD.”
Hormones, genetics, and brain chemistry also play a role in the development of sexual differentiation, gender identity, and human sexuality. The idea of two sexes is too simplistic. None of this is binary; it’s all a continuum.
Republicans who deny this are erasing a whole class of people. There is much more to unpack in the legislation, but I can only do so much here.
Republicans say they are protecting women’s sports. In reality, it’s a red herring that’s used as an excuse to punish trans people more generally.
My trans friend, Diana Goetsch, in a column titled “Can we finally stop talking about trans sports?” in the Los Angeles Times earlier this month points out:
The sheer volume of ruckus Republicans have generated from the minuscule issue presented by trans female athletes deserves its own special place in the annals of wagging the dog. From 2020-24, the GOP clogged state legislatures with 296 bills hell-bent on banning less than 1% of children from school sports.
According to NCAA president Charlie Baker, of 510,000 student athletes in college sports, fewer than 10 (or 0.002%) are transgender. There were many more little girls crowded around Trump for the signing photo of his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, than the total number of transgender college athletes the NCAA banned from competition hours later.
As a trans person, I have avoided writing about sports because it only distracts from infinitely larger issues facing my community, such as access to healthcare, bodily autonomy, equal protection, the right to privacy and the parental rights of parents of trans kids. When sports is the story, the trans community loses — every time. We get trashed and trolled and misgendered, and we lose allies. Republicans use sports as a gateway drug to spread trans hate.
Diana argues that the minuscule number of trans athletes who have gone through male puberty may have an advantage and proposes that sports governing organizations:
…follow what the world swimming body, FINA, has done, and allow trans women who have not undergone male puberty to compete. FINA’s policy isn’t concerned with trans identity but rather bodily development.
I met these nice people. Hunter Medham and Daniel Landgrebe. Daniel told me:
I think we’ll get through this, but it may hurt for a while.
Let’s hope he’s right.
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Republican fear is so transparent. Their small, frightened minds can’t conceive of the broad spectrum and beauty of our human diversity. They want to legislate their black and white world, which in the end, isn’t really possible, but will create so much pain. Thank you, Bob, for continuing to hold this up where we can see it, and hopefully, push back against their attempt to encapsulate their fear into law.
Fuck You Fascist sounds lovely to these ears. If the GOP doesn't like it, maybe they should stop doing fascist things. Just a thought. In the meantime, they can pound sand.