Prairie Dog

From the February 2024 edition of The Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newsletter. The PP is  funded entirely by reader subscription, available in hard copy for $15/yr.  Send check to PP, Box 1945, Iowa City 52244. Click here for archived issues.

Iowa is in trouble. The current legislative session has become a factory of injustice for an aggressive and self-righteous majority. Iowa’s LGBTQ community, specifically transgender and non-binary Iowans, are the favored targets of the moment for a raft of harebrained new laws.

Good news: A bill that would have removed gender identity from Iowa’s civil rights law failed to advance out of committee. But there is little room for relief in the state right now as our governor propels her juggernaut of far-right legislation along.

Bad news: The day after the bill on Iowa civil rights law sputtered, a new bill emerged. It would force any department at the state or local level that issues identifying documents (driver’s licenses and birth certificates are specified) to add a field for gender at birth, and a field to denote gender reassignment. This designation would appear on the birth certificate and the driver’s license or non-drive state-issued ID.

Details appear in a new section of Code, 4.1A Statutory Construction—Sex and Related Terms. Here, the verbal and legal contortions necessary to initiate this outlandish invasion of privacy are outlined. Their scope, and the cavalier way in which they are declared law,
would overwhelm the imagination of Orwell.

A female, you will be glad to know, is defined therein as “a person whose biological reproductive system is designed to produce ova.” A  male, happily, is “a person whose
biological reproductive system is designed to fertilize the ova of a female.” We can all find a million problems with this. What about biological reproductive systems that are not formed for this intent, in which some genetic error or omission prevents the reproductive
mission from being achieved? Before they even attempt to consider such questions, they move on to a couple of seismic public service announcements.

e. The term “equal” does not mean
“same” or “identical.”

f. Separate accommodations are not
inherently unequal.

You know you are in trouble when your state’s book-banning political party chooses to become lexicographers. But there’s more! I give you:

g. A person born with a medically verifiable diagnosis of disorder or difference of sex development shall be provided the legal protections and accommodations afforded under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and applicable state law.

So they’ve crafted a blunt instrument of a law to single out trans Iowans by forcibly identifying them, and then defining them as disabled under the ADA. Eligible for all applicable protections and accommodations, of course.

Iowa’s governor, and her legislative majority, is generating a maelstrom of ill-intentioned law and trying to push it along. They would imperil citizens’ privacy and safety by forcing trans Iowans to present driver’s licenses and birth certificates that show them to be trans.

After creating a heretofore unknown level of hate and hysteria against trans persons, they would now force them to be branded on official documents for all to see and for anyone to
harass, threaten, or worse.

The pressing question for Iowans who rise to object is: How best do we do so? By what means can we most effectively make our voices heard and gather reasonable Iowans
into our ranks to oppose this vile incursion of government into our lives?

It is no small question. It will define our activities in politics and the pursuit of justice this year and likely for years to come. The debate has already begun in some counties. The very night the bill had been introduced in the legislature to track trans people on state ID
documents and justify separate-but-equal treatment, the Johnson County Democratic Central Committee met to consider a resolution of censure against the county attorney. My word limit precludes me from comprehensively addressing the incident. Nonetheless it is
emblematic of where we are situated now in Iowa as people committed to promoting justice.

The censure vote failed by a 34-13 margin. The focus must now shift to the future. And that future matters, especially with bills flying out of the Capitol weekly that diminish our rights and degrade our humanity. We must consider carefully the methods, means, and goals of how to proceed.

I am no grand protest strategist, but I know from experience that some methods are effective, while others are alienating and divisive. Right now, many good people may not care about that. Too many blows have been taken by transgender and other targeted communities; too many insults have been borne for them to give a damn if they are alienating or sympathetic to the larger voting public.

But the problem is, if we don’t care and proceed with care, we’ll fail in our efforts. And if we fail in our efforts… well, there’s no end to what the governor and her legislative goons will do. The calculus of consequences is terrible, and I hate it, but we must all become adept at it if we are to regain the upper hand in our ethically upended state.

—Kim Painter is the Johnson County Recorder.

Contact your Iowa State Senator:
515-281-3371

Contact your Iowa State Representative:
515-281-3221

Contact the Iowa Governor:
515-281-5211