Hundreds of Iowa residents have filled the Iowa Capitol building waving Pride flags to protest an anti-trans bill that seeks to remove gender identity as a protected class in the state’s civil rights act.

Iowa House members voted 60-36 on Thursday to pass Senate File 418, which removes protections against gender identity discrimination from the state’s civil rights law, while Senate Republicans voted 33-15 along party lines to pass the legislation.

The civil rights law was first enacted in 1965 and, after lawmakers added sexual orientation and gender identity in 2007, prohibits discrimination based on race, creed, colour, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, disability, and gender identity.

This bill would change that, removing gender identity from the list as well as requiring birth certificates to reflect an Iowan’s sex at birth as either male or female. It would also redefine “sex” to mean “the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth”, echoing the executive order recently signed by President Donald Trump.

The bill is now in the hands of Governor Kim Reynolds, who is expected to sign it into law, ending 18 years of state law protection for transgender Iowans.

Following the votes in the House and Senate, people in the public gallery erupted into boos and shouts of “shame!” in protest over the bill, while some shouted “fascist scumbags” at those voting in favour of the legislation.

BREAKING: Trans rights activists are protesting at the Iowa State Capitol.

Far right X users are claiming they “stormed the Capitol building. THIS IS A LIE.

– Notice that they ARE permitted to be there.
– There is NO violence.
– NO police have been attacked.
– NO gun… pic.twitter.com/awuHzwxo6f

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) February 27, 2025

Democrat lawmakers in Iowa were overwhelmingly against the bill, warning Republicans that history wouldn’t look kindly on them for voting this bill in. Only five Republicans voted against the bill.

Democratic Representative Aime Wichtendahl, the first openly transgender member of the Iowa legislature, spoke out vehemently against the bill, saying that it would revoke “protections to our jobs, our homes and our ability to access credit”.

“In other words, it deprives us of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The purpose of this bill and the purpose of every anti-trans bill is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence. The sum total of every anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bill is to make our existence illegal,” she said.

Kamala Harris started a resistance.

People are protesting an anti- trans bill in Iowa. Chants of "we won't go back". pic.twitter.com/FDGf7nmkHW

— Winter’s Politics

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