During yet another reading focused on passing new laws that specifically target transgender people and harm gains in the Gay community, Alexandra Gray compared what is happening in Iowa to a futuristic book.
She remarked, “What futuristic book are we in this day because I’m finding us slipping and going backward?” Black folks were once considered to be three-fifths of a man, according to statistics. In order for me to center my life on it, I’d like to know what percentage of a man gay people are going to find.
During Monday’s Iowa House Education Committee public hearing on House File 2389, Gov. Gray, a Black trans girl from Des Moines, made these comments. The latest anti-trans regulations from Kim Reynolds. The hearing was the last chance for the public to express their opinions to lawmakers before the bill can be debated on the Iowa House floor.
Although politicians agreed they could remove the latter part, HF 2389 may involve trans Iowans to have a unique sign on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses in order to identify them as transgender. Additionally, the act would define heteronormative terms for household units and people, reinstate the illegal “separate but equal” theory, and mandate that trans people use distinct restrooms and locker rooms in public places.
Just a few steps away from where the hearing on Monday was held, hundreds of people filled the Iowa State Capitol Rotunda. Many of them wore bright rectangles, which Germans used to denote gay people being held in concentration camps.
“I need to know where you are sending me: to a concentration camp or up to the farm. I live at the crossroads of Black and Queer.” Gray shared the historical tidbit while sporting a red square and said, “Again, I need to find out where I’m going in my life.”
“I’m against this bill because it’ll kill people.” People may be put in danger and destroyed as a result. Realizing that you are all creating rules for future generations rather than for yourself, this act is literally playing with life.
At the one-hour hearing, about 102 people signed up to speak. The House Education Committee’s chairman, Rep. Skyler Wheeler (R-Hull), alternated between speakers in favor and against, and if the chanting outside got out of hand, he would end the meeting. Just 24 people could communicate in total.
Many of the speakers opposed to the costs were either friends or LGBTQ Iowans themselves. Many of them talked about how this legislation would affect them personally or people they knew.
The language in this bill, according to Kayla Bell, the Des Moines Consolver, tries to defame family units like hers, which have two mothers.
In order to make the world more equitable, good, and so just, she asked, “are these changes really being implemented to help your constituents combat the pretty widespread experiences of inequality, such as housing discrimination, job security, or violence against oneself or others?”
Or are these modifications advised because you undervalue the lives of parents and transgender and gay people? “I’d hope I wouldn’t have to look you in the eye or my daughter to tell her that the state that used to lead the way in establishing justice and equality now has leaders using their influence to devalue and delegitimize.”
Speakers who supported the bill cited a number of justifications, including the devil, the #MeToo movement, and the film “Kindergarten Cop.”
One of the reasons Courtney Collier, a Waukee family and Moms for Liberty member, supported the bill was because of her religious beliefs.
She claimed that “Biological mothers are being eliminated and replaced by this absurd executive pattern, which is orchestrated by the dragon himself.”
According to Josh Briggs of Waukee, a father of four daughters who was involved in the “Concerned Waukee Parents” movement, Iowa needs this legislation because of trans people and their supporters.
In Iowa, where there are more than 3 million people, trans people make up 0.29% of the community and hold no state agencies.
“The activists outside of this room have compelled the need for this policy through authoritarian means, much like the bully in the schoolyard who makes people join or remain silent, just as they have done through education and research, particularly in social sciences,” he claimed.
The last speaker was Becky Tayler of Iowa Safe Schools, a lobbying organization that works with LGBTQ youth and friends. She pointed out that there have been no problems with transgender and intersex John sharing spots and that gender identity has been a part of Iowa’s Civil Rights Act since 2007.
“Due to this accommodation, there have never been any accusations of illegal behavior,” according to Tayler. “Never in a room, bag room, or school, please. It is already against the law for anyone to provide a service with the intention to abuse, hurt, or attack another Iowan’s individual privacy, I’m happy to inform those in attendance at this hearing as well as those watching online.”
