Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill on Friday that removes protections for transgender people in the state’s civil rights code. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
The bill also defines male and female based on the person’s reproductive organs at birth.
Iowa’s civil rights code will still include protections for race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin and disability status.
Reynolds described the bill in a video she uploaded to X on Friday.
"Today I’m signing into law a bill that safeguards the rights of women and girls," she said. "It’s commonsense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it’s necessary to secure genuine equal protection for girls. It’s why we have men and women’s bathrooms, but not men and women’s conference rooms. Girls' and boys' sports, but not girls' math, boys' math."
She said that "these commonsense protections were at risk because, before I signed this bill, the civil rights code blurred the biological line between the sexes."
Democratic Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl reacts after speaking during a debate on the bill on Thursday. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Democratic Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, who identifies as a transgender woman, said, "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."
Protesters also filled the state Capitol’s rotunda on Thursday, holding up signs like "Trans rights are human rights" and shouting, "No hate in our state!"
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Keenan Crow, who directs policy and advocacy for the LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa, told The Associated Press that the group will take any legal action "available," adding that they’re still trying to understand how the law will be enforced.
All Democrats in the state House and Senate voted against the bill and were joined by five House Republicans.
The law goes into effect July 1.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/iowa-governor-signs-bill-removing-transgender-protections-from-civil-rights-code