January 13, 2022
Contact: Keenan Crow
Director of Policy and Advocacy
Mobile: (712) 389-1924
Email: keenan@oneiowa.org
[Des Moines]— With the introduction of SF 2024 and SF 2025 the Iowa legislature has hit a new record of 17 active LGBTQ bills. Because the Iowa legislature works on two year timetables, all 15 anti-LGBTQ bills from 2021 were reactivated on January 10, 2022. With the new addition of these new bills, a small group of legislators has once again propelled Iowa to the top of the national stage in discriminatory legislation.
SF 2024 is a curricula exclusion bill that would prohibit educators from talking about transgender people while SF 2025 is a school bathroom bill which would prevent students from using the appropriate restroom while at school.
One Iowa Action Director of Policy and Advocacy Keenan Crow condemned the legislation in a statement:
“We predicted that this session would be a tough one for LGBTQ Iowans and these initial proposals prove that we were correct. While we are not surprised, we are disappointed that a small group of legislators continue to focus on stripping protections from marginalized groups rather than ensuring that Iowans have accessible healthcare, world class educational opportunities, and high quality jobs.
We know these ideas are not popular ones. We know that this is just a small minority of extreme legislators advancing model legislation sent to them from out-of-state interest groups. Unfortunately that doesn’t blunt the negative impacts. LGBTQ youth will still feel that their rights are under attack, businesses will still think twice about their Iowa operations, and workers will reconsider before relocating their families. This has to stop. Legislators should embrace Iowa’s legacy of pushing toward equality rather than targeting vulnerable young people for political gain.”