The Republican Reign of Terror on Trans Iowans Marches on

But trans Iowans and their allies won't be silenced...

The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa Republican-dominated Legislature voted Thursday to pass a bill removing gender identity as a protected class in the state's Civil Rights Act.

“More than 2,500 people filled the Iowa Capitol Thursday as chanting filled the hallways from Iowans opposing a bill removing gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.”

The bill is now on Governor Kim Reynold’s desk to sign. By the time you read this, it may have been signed.

Dave Price, a long-time political reporter formerly with WHO-TV in Des Moines and now with Gray Media, told me yesterday it was the biggest crowd to protest he had ever seen during a legislative session, and he’s been covering the legislature for many years.

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I talked to a friend at the capital who was a Viet Nam vet who told me and another friend amidst a bunch of other crap that he wondered why trans people couldn’t be more polite when they protest. I wanted to say it’s because Republicans want to drive them from the face of the earth, and that they demand that trans people smile and be polite while they did it.

I should have.

Those two friends of mine didn’t know each other before, and when he walked away from us she said “Fuck that guy.”

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I went on Substack live for the first time to show the crowd. It got larger very quickly. You can watch it here.

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Democratic Senator Tony Bisignano gave a floor speech for the ages shaming Republicans. As of this writing early Friday morning it has over 106,000 views. Please watch it and be proud Bisignano stood up and called out the Republican hatred and cruelty to their faces.

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Leaning over the rail of the balcony looking down at the crowd, I found myself beside a man, maybe 40. I asked him why he was there. He told me that he had testified in support of the bill. I presumed he was a pastor, but now that I think about it, he only said that he was an administrator at a Christian school.

If you asked AI to create an image of the stereotypical 40-year-old white preacher in Iowa, he would be the product. Tall, handsome-ish, clean cut, nicely dressed in a suit, trim, fit, blondish—you know who I’m talking about. I presume straight.

Our conversation was polite, probably because I only have about a thimble-full of testosterone left in me.

He told me that he testified for the bill because he wanted to protect girls, women, and women’s sports. I told him, no he didn’t. That he and others like him want power and control over others. I said that trans people aren’t a threat to girls and women—straight men are.

He said that the Bible said there are only two sexes. I said I don’t care. Science says that’s not true. I wrote about that here and explained some of it to him.

Regular readers know that I am a lapsed Lutheran, but I remember my Sunday School lessons and often use those lessons in discussions with right-wing Christians.

“Let’s say I agree with you,” I said, pointing down to the hundreds of people below us. “That means that you and I know more than all of those people down there. That what we believe means more than what they do. That we are right. They shouldn’t exist. Don’t you feel their pain?”

He looked at the crowd, studying them. Thinking.

“And you tell me, I said. “If Jesus were here today, would he be standing here next to us condemning the people below us, or would he be down there with them, comforting them?”

The man turned and looked at me like he had never thought about this before, and eventually I wandered away.

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Before you go, please watch the above video and feel the moment. Thank you.

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