Everyone at Liberty has seen teachers and administrators supporting LGBTQ+ students. Whether it’s the large posters posted in the hallways, or the little stickers on the doors of teachers’ classrooms, showing they are an ally. For now, at least, LGBTQ+ students at Liberty may feel welcome and supported by the school, but that’s not the case for many students around the nation.

Recently, states like Florida, Texas, and many others have introduced legislation to limit the rights of LGBT students. These bills range from banning books in classrooms referring to homosexuality, all the way to making mandatory reporters report anyone under the age of 18 who is transgender to CPS, possibly removing them from their homes. If you’re like me, you’ve probably only heard of the bills in Texas and Florida, and feel relieved that Iowa doesn’t have any of these predatory bills targeting children. After some further digging, I found many bills currently in the works in the Iowa legislature that are very alarming for the LGBTQ+ youth.

Between 2021 and 2022 there have been 15 bills targeting LGBTQ youth. Some of the most notable bills include SF 80: A bill that prevents schools from soliciting pronouns and outing students if they do, HF 170: A bill that allows discrimination against LGBTQ people and other minority groups including but not limited to employment, adoption, foster care, and restroom access, and one of the worst, HF 184: A bill that limits transgender students from participating in athletics and requires invasive verification for students whose gender is “challenged”.

I could keep listing these terrible bills, or if you’d like to read for yourself click this link to see the full list of egregious propositions.

In response to bill HF 2416, a bill that like HF 184 that would prevent transgender students from participating in sports, the Iowa City Community School District stated in a tweet that they are strongly opposed to the bill and “want to make clear [they’re supporting] transgender students and student-athletes.” They added: “An attack on transgender students is an attack on civil rights,” in a later tweet from the district’s account.

It is clear that the elected officials in Iowa have an agenda against the LGBTQ community, and that they want the education and conversations surrounding it to be banned in schools. Iowa senator Jake Chapman said in an address to the Iowa senate that, “the attack on our children is no longer hidden. Those who wish to normalize sexually deviant behavior against our children, including pedophilia and incest, are pushing this movement more than ever before”. He of course is referring to the education of LGBTQ in public schools, grossly referring to it as “sexual deviancy” and comparing it to “pedophilia and incest.”

If like me, you are discouraged by the discrimination being proposed in the state legislature, I urge you to contact your representative to advocate for LGBTQ students’ rights. You can go to this link, which is a directory of numbers you can call and speak to members of the Iowa state legislature.