Twelve powerful testimonies against Iowa's transgender discrimination bill

Compelling words Republicans ignored

State Representative Aime Wichtendahl speaks on the Iowa House floor on February 27 (photo first published by Iowa House Democrats)

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Iowa Republicans made history in the worst way last week.

Effective July 1, 2025, the Iowa Civil Rights Act will no longer prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations, or credit on the basis of gender identity. The state of Iowa also will stop issuing birth certificates that reflect a transgender person’s gender identity, and will officially recognize separate-but-equal accommodations as lawful.

Republicans sped up the legislative process to pass Senate File 418 in both chambers on February 27, only seven days after the bill text became public.

The Iowa Senate approved the bill on a party-line vote of 33 to 15. Less than an hour later, the House passed the bill by 60 votes to 36, with five Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition. Governor Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 418 on February 28.

Forthcoming articles will analyze this law’s impact on Iowans and the inevitable court challenge over some potentially unconstitutional provisions.

For now, I want to highlight a selection of compelling appeals the majority party ignored: six from Iowans whom this law will directly harm, and six from allies of the trans community.

All of the videos enclosed below came from either the floor debates or the Iowa House public hearing held on the morning of February 27. It was very hard to choose just a few testimonies. You can watch the entire public hearing here or here, the full Iowa Senate floor debate here, and the Iowa House debate here.

“DO YOU KNOW THE HUMILIATION OF HAVING TO LOSE YOUR HOME?”

If you watch only one clip from last week’s legislative proceedings, make it State Representative Aime Wichtendahl’s remarks on the House floor. Iowa’s first transgender lawmaker was the last Democrat to speak before the floor manager, State Representative Steven Holt, delivered his closing statement.

Many House and Senate Democrats used part of their floor time to read letters they had received from transgender or nonbinary Iowans, or their loved ones. But there is nothing like hearing directly from a person with lived experience. This is one of the many reasons representation matters.

Here is the full video:

Wichtendahl began by confessing, “It pains me to be here today. It pains me to see how the rights of an entire group of people can be so quickly and easily discarded. It pains me to hear the slander, the stereotypes and the fear leveled at the trans community, my community, my friends and my family, my people. People who just want to live their lives, to be themselves, and to live free of fear.”

Wichtendahl described her decision to transition in 2006, when it was still legal for employers to fire people for being transgender. For a year, she was “hyper-vigilant,” worried about losing her job. But in 2007, Democratic Governor Chet Culver signed into law civil rights protections that prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender identity. As it turned out, her employer was supportive.

She said it broke her heart to sit in the February 24 subcommittee meeting on this bill and hear “the most heinous stereotypes and slander leveled at transgender people.” Advocates for the bill portrayed trans people as “vile predators” who harass women, or suggested their lives are “a kink or a fetish,” or even “a giant conspiracy” of the pharmaceutical industry. Some suggested they had been brainwashed, or reflected a failure of upbringing.

“None of that is true,” Wichtendahl said. “We are human beings. We are American citizens. We are Iowans. And I will tell you personally: I transitioned to save my life. Because, truth be told, if culture or upbringing determined a person’s orientation or gender identity, I should be the straightest person in any room.”

She described her conservative upbringing in rural Iowa. Her family belonged to a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, and she attended a private Lutheran school through eighth grade. Yet she knew from the age of 9 that she was a girl. As she tried to ignore and hide her feelings about her gender identity, “I spiraled into depression and alcoholism.” She thought about taking her own life on a daily basis. She transitioned because she wanted to preserve her relationships with her parents and sister. “And I transitioned because I wanted to be a parent to my son and to see him grow up.”

Wichtendahl wiped away tears before saying she wanted to ask the authors of the bill: “Have you ever had to look into your three-year old’s eyes and explain to him why you don’t have a house anymore, to have to explain to him why you’re now living with strangers and what happened to his room and all his toys? Have you ever had to do that? Because I have.”

The same week she transitioned at work, her property management company informed her she had 30 days to move. Even though she had always paid the rent on time, and the unit next to her had been vacant for six months, she was told she had to leave. ”Do you know the humiliation of having to lose your home? I pray that you never do.”

“This bill revokes 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. I bring this up because 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, to force us back into the closet.”

Wichtendahl urged her Republican colleagues, “Draw the line in the sand and say that civil rights in Iowa are enshrined and protected, and let us get back to the people’s business. Let us work to make Iowa the place where people move to instead of flee from, and a place in Iowa where all of our dreams come true, a place where we live our highest values: our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.”

Democrats gave Wichtendahl a standing ovation—which is against the chamber’s rules of decorum.

“YOU ARE CONDONING INEQUALITY AND DISCRIMINATION”

Iowa House rules allow the minority party to call for a public hearing. On the morning of February 27, legislators heard testimony for and against the bill for nearly 90 minutes. Hundreds of Iowans registered their position on the bill in written comments, which you can find here.

The first speaker against the bill at the public hearing was Johnson County Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz, who is transgender. I’ve cued up the livestream from Iowa’s News Now to begin at their remarks.

They are a proud parent of two who just celebrated their 20th anniversary with their wife, and they have personally faced discrimination as a trans Iowan. “By striking gender identity from the state’s civil rights act, you are condoning inequality and discrimination in housing, education, and employment.” Is it not the government’s role to affirm the inalienable rights of law-abiding citizens? “What of our state motto, ‘Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain’? The people of Iowa deserve better.”

Fixmer-Oraiz argued that one of the main arguments for the bill—that it will “protect” women and girls— is a “red herring.” In fact, “Women, girls, and trans people are all under attack in this state. And true gender equality is made real when we all have access to equal pay, child care support, health care, education, bodily autonomy, and yes, as a mere baseline, civil rights protections under the law.”

In closing, they asked lawmakers, “How many of you know a transgender person? […] I have found that when choosing between humanity and cruelty, it’s an easy decision for good people who want to do the right thing. […] Show the type of leadership that protects everyone in our state. Because transgender rights are human rights.”

“THIS BILL WILL NOT PROTECT ANYONE”

Eligh Cade is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and transgender man who spoke forcefully at the public hearing.

“You are actively dismantling progress that harmed no one. […] They are not harming women and children. They are not harming them in bathrooms, domestic violence shelters, in locker rooms. They verifiably are not harming anyone. You know who is hurting women and children? The legislators sitting in this room who wish to strip them of their civil rights.”

“This bill will not protect anyone,” Cade went on. It merely sets a precedent that Iowa will take rights away “because a small amount of people have fears.” He also denounced the part of the bill that states, “Separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”

“This is not a bill based in logic. This is not a bill based in truth. This is a bill based on your feelings. It is based on your fundamental lack of human decency towards a group of people that make up less than 1 percent of the country.”

Cade said near the end of his speaking time, “I never got the chance in the Corps to lay down my life for my friends. But maybe that’s because it was here that I was supposed to do this. For these people are my friends.”

“WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL—EXCEPT FOR TRANSGENDER PEOPLE”

Keenan Crow is nonbinary and comes the capitol regularly in their role as director of policy and advocacy for the group One Iowa. I have seen them testify at dozens of House or Senate subcommittee meetings over the past several years. But I have never seen this happen.

Crow turned toward the American flag and invited others to join them in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all—except for transgender people.”

Crow said the bill “makes a mockery” of the pledge and Iowa’s state motto. “It is not justice to deny someone shelter simply because they are a transgender person. It is not justice to deny them a car loan, life insurance, a credit card, simply because they are transgender. It is not justice to fire someone, a model employee, simply because it is discovered that they are transgender. That is not justice.”

They explained, “This bill is not about sports.” There is not a word about athletics in the bill.

They reminded legislators that Iowa was the first state (in an 1868 Iowa Supreme Court ruling on school segregation) to say that separate is not equal. “And yet here we stand, over 150 years later, enshrining those very words into Iowa code: separate but equal. That is shameful.”

“I AM TERRIFIED ABOUT WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD FOR MY DAUGHTER”

Taylor Layden held a photo of her 20-month-old daughter Eloise throughout her spellbinding testimony at the public hearing. Several Democratic lawmakers referenced her family’s story during the House and Senate debates.

Externally, Eloise appears female. But when she was 14 months old, she needed treatment for a hernia, and her family discovered that she had internal testes. Subsequent genetic testing confirmed she had a 46, XY karotype, a rare intersex condition.

“Eloise is a beautiful little human, and everyone who meets her just gushes about how perfect she is,” Layden said. “I am terrified about what the future may hold for my daughter, due to things beyond her control. Because of her genetic variance and intersex traits, I don’t know what gender Eloise will identify with when she gets older. And as much as I love having a baby girl, I will cherish and love and protect my child, no matter how she identifies. I fear that the world will not be so accepting and loving.”

Layden explained that under this bill, her daughter would be unable to change the sex marker on her birth certificate if she ends up identifying as male.

“This bill sets a dangerous precedent for discrimination against anyone who doesn’t fit into a gender binary,” Layden said. “Please don’t make existing in this state any harder than it already is for people who are different from what is considered normal to exist in the world.”

“PLEASE, DON’T TAKE MY RIGHTS AWAY SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE WITH WHO I AM”

I was just about holding it together during the public hearing until Kayde Martin addressed the lawmakers. He spent his 18th birthday traveling to the state capitol—not on a fun road trip, but to beg Republicans not to take away his civil rights. This testimony wrecked me.

Fighting back tears, Martin said he was speaking not only for himself, but for other transgender youth. “It deeply troubles me that after 18 years of living here with my family, attending school, working, this is the focus of our state.” He plans to attend the University of Northern Iowa this fall and hopes to live independently, “without fear of discrimination simply because of who I am.”

He’s heard some talk about women’s rights and wondered: “Why do women’s rights only seem to be defended when it is used against the transgender community?”

Martin “was raised with Christian beliefs. I believe that faith teaches us to respect and love all people, regardless of identity as a whole. A good Christian knows that only the Lord is one to judge. Nobody knows the heavenly Father’s plan.” He went on to quote from Romans 2:1: “You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgement onto someone else for whatever point you judge another; you are condemning yourself because you who pass judgement do the same things.”

Martin pleaded with the legislators, “I want to be able to be the person I was meant to be, and as the person that God knows me to be. Please, don’t take my rights away simply because you disagree with who I am. Being trans is not a choice, it is a reality that you come to when you learn to understand yourself and love yourself.”

Many people in the hearing room applauded following Martin’s testimony, prompting Representative Holt to issue a “last warning” that anyone who applauded will be escorted from the room.

“WORSENED HEALTH OUTCOMES” AND “MORE COSTS TO THE SYSTEM”

Allies of the transgender community delivered powerful remarks during the public hearing and legislative debates as well.

Dr. Katie Imborek is an Iowa-trained family medicine physician who has co-directed the LGBTQ Clinic at the University of Iowa Health Care since 2012. She came to the statehouse in 2023 to testify against the ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Her remarks at the February 27 hearing:

Imborek said her clinic has cared for more than 2,000 trans or nonbinary Iowans. They have seen patients from every corner of the state, even from very conservative areas like Sioux or Kossuth County.

“As a doctor, I see first-hand how social determinants like stable housing, employment, and access to public spaces are critical to my patients’ health. The protections in our civil rights code are not abstract. They are lifelines.”

When someone is denied housing due to gender identity, “they face higher risks of homelessness, violence, and worsened physical and mental health.” When they are fired from a job or turned away from a business, “it affects their ability to afford medications, access health care, and live with dignity.”

Imborek said removing civil rights from a marginalized population, which already has disparate health outcomes, “is a public health concern.” It will have “real consequences” for Iowans.

She noted that Representative Holt has made clear his endgame is to remove Medicaid coverage for “evidence-based and medically necessary gender-affirming care for adults.” Holt has complained that over the past ten years, Iowa Medicaid has spent nearly $2 million on such care.

“The problem with that math is that trans and nonbinary people will still be here, despite your attempts to erase them,” Imborek said. “Only now they will have worsened health outcomes: more chronic disease, more hospitalizations, and more costs to the system, to the taxpayers for whom you are purporting to be saving money.”

“IT PROTECTS PEOPLE WORKING HARD ACROSS THE STATE”

Devin Kelly, a civil rights attorney based in Des Moines, spent most of his time at the public hearing telling lawmakers about the discrimination one of his clients faced.

His client “Stephen,” a trans man in a rural Iowa community, applied for a job driving people with disabilities to appointments. Although there were “lots of openings” for the position, the hiring manager somehow learned that that Stephen is transgender.

When Stephen called to check up on his application, the hiring manager called him “Julie” and said the position was no longer available.

Stephen then had a friend call to inquire about the job, “and once again the positions were open.” Kelly explained, “This is the type of thing that gender identity in the civil rights code protects. It protects people working hard across the state, in rural communities—some of which you might not even know—but are just trying to make a life for themselves and their families, and serve their communities.”

“YOU’RE BREAKING MY HEART TODAY”

It was difficult to choose just a few excerpts from the legislative debates. So many Democrats spoke passionately, sometimes through tears.

Democratic State Senator Liz Bennett was the first out queer woman to serve in the Iowa House and was elected to the Senate in 2022. She was full of righteous anger as she spoke on the Senate floor. This clip shows the last portion of her remarks.

Bennett pointed out that some Iowa House Republicans have indicated they don’t think there should be protected classes in the civil rights code. “This will not stop here,” she warned.

She told Republicans, “You’re breaking my heart today.” Fifteen years ago, as a college graduate, she chose to stay in Iowa because she was proud of our state’s inclusive civil rights history.

As a young queer person, I felt valued, and I saw that lawmakers understood the importance of including gender identity in civil rights code. I felt that I could build a life here and focus on my career, because I wouldn’t have to worry about whether my livelihood hinged upon whether an employer felt that my gender was appropriate, or whether I dressed in the style they decided someone assigned female at birth should dress.

I’ve been proud of our state. And I’ve encouraged other tech workers to come here too. Because I felt that they would be protected, and they could build a career here too.

You are destroying that with this bill. I’ve had constituents move away from Iowa to ensure their own safety or that of their children. That’s wrong.

Bennett vowed not to leave. She ended her remarks as many other Democratic lawmakers did, with Iowa’s state motto.

“You can try to silence Iowans by limiting debate today, but we won’t be quiet. Trans rights are human rights. We will continue to fight for the day when our state lives up to the motto of our flag: ‘Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.'”

“THIS BILL IS A DISGRACE TO OUR HERITAGE”

State Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell used part of her speaking time to reflect on her role floor managing the 2007 bill that added sexual orientation and gender identity to the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

When people ask about her proudest moment as a state representative, Wessel-Kroeschell said, her answer is always passing that bill. It had support from both parties and needed support from both parties. (A handful of House Democrats were against the idea, and the prospective 51st Democratic vote was serving a tour in Iraq.)

Wessel-Kroeschell recalled that the LGBTQ community “stuck together” to make sure Iowa “did it right the first time,” including civil rights protections for gender identity as part of the 2007 bill. She referred to a young man who returned to the state because the legislature protected his rights, and “plays a prominent role in Iowa today.”

“We should be welcoming and protecting all Iowans. This bill is a disgrace to our heritage of recognizing the value of all people, often before the rest of the country does. We will be the first state to go backwards. Backwards, that’s the only word you can use for it.”

Reminding colleagues of the importance of the vote, Wessel-Kroeschell said, “I will stay on the right side of history. Think long and hard about how you want to be remembered. My proudest moment was adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the Iowa civil rights code. Is today your proudest moment? […] Discrimination is any form is unacceptable. Our liberties we prize, our rights we will maintain.”

State Senators Cindy Winckler and Janet Petersen, who were both Iowa House members in 2007, also reflected on that day with pride in their floor speeches on February 27. Winckler broke down sobbing as she said she was “so ashamed” of the bill currently before the chamber.

“SHAME ON YOU, CHRISTIANS”

When State Senator Tony Bisignano gets going, he doesn’t hold back. And he delivered an epic take-down while the Senate was considering one of the Democratic amendments to the anti-trans bill.

This clip begins about a minute before Bisignano began speaking, so you can see what spurred his reaction.

The Republican floor manager, State Senator Jason Schultz, spoke for only a few seconds as he advised colleagues to reject another amendment from Democratic State Senator Matt Blake. That one would have restored civil rights protections for transgender Iowans for purposes of banking and credit.

Bisignano was angry that Schultz was the only Republican to speak during the Senate debate, and also angry that Republicans used a rare “time certain” motion, ensuring the majority party could force a final vote at 3:30 p.m.

“Are we not going to have a debate here on this issue?” Bisignano asked. “I mean, no one else wants to talk. We’re talking about something critical here: people’s lives.”

Referring to protesters who crowded the state capitol in opposition to the civil rights bill, Bisignano said, “These people aren’t downstairs because they’ve got nothing else to do. Their life’s on the line and should be taken serious, and I don’t think you’re taking it serious.”

The Democrat was outraged that Republicans weren’t even explaining why they were revoking civil rights protections for trans Iowans. “Do you got anything legitimate to talk about why you’re screwing people in housing, and in employment, and in health care and everything else? Can we talk about it over there, a little bit?”

Bisignano was just getting warmed up. “You hurt more people than I’ve ever seen in my political life, and you never speak about it. The only thing you can’t wait to do is say the prayer in the morning. Follow what you say.” He accused most of the Republicans of not paying attention to the floor debate. “This isn’t your average bill running through this chamber. You’re hurting people.”

Bisignano wondered, “What have they ever done to you? Most of you don’t even know somebody who’s transgender. You don’t even know ’em, but you hate ’em. You have to hate ’em because you cannot do what you’re doing today if you didn’t. But we’ll say a nice prayer to start the day,” he went on. “We always do. And then we proceed to violate people over and over and over again. All they want is their fair shake in life.”

Raising his voice a little later, Bisignano said, “Shame on you. Shame on all of you Christians who want to keep talking about your faith when this is what God talked about! I don’t know where you go to church, and I don’t know what you read, but being a good Christian doesn’t take much. Do unto others. Take care of your neighbor.”

Lowering his voice, he said, “It never stops being disappointing in this room. It never stops, because we’ve never yet hit bottom. But we are getting very, very close.” He told Republicans, “We’d like to hear you, in your words. Tell us why you hate these people. Tell us why you want to grind ’em and take ’em out of Iowa, because that’s what this does.”

At that point, Republican State Senator Jesse Green called a point of order. But Bisignano was done. He said, “Shame on you, Christians,” before sitting down.

The Advocate interviewed Bisignano on February 28. He mentioned that he has a transgender niece, which I hadn’t known before. “She’s a sweet person, she’s lovely, she’s smart, she’s talented, and you want to dispel and disgrace and demean these people?” the senator told The Advocate. “I’m sorry, Tony Bisignano cannot sit in a room in any capacity to see that done to anybody for anything.”

“MY GRANDPA TOLD ME: ‘STEP UP WHEN IT’S YOUR TURN'”

The February 27 debates were among the most emotional I have ever witnessed in the Iowa legislature. I found myself tearing up several times, sometimes taken by surprise.

I wasn’t expecting to react so strongly to State Representative Kenan Judge’s remarks.

He began by sharing part of his family’s “rich heritage.” His Irish Catholic ancestors came to the U.S. during the 1850s. They eventually settled into farming in southwest Iowa. In 1865, his great-great-grandfather’s brother, Michael Judge, was bringing a priest in to the area to say Mass on Sundays.

“And the whole community started getting upset with these Irish Catholics, that talked differently, that acted differently, that worshiped differently,” Judge said. There were rumors locals didn’t want them around. The family felt unwelcome and decided to move, because they were afraid. In 1865, they had a farm sale, “And during that farm sale, my cousin was shot and killed because of his faith,” Judge said.

His grandparents told him this story when he was a little kid, under age 10. “And I didn’t really know what to think of it then. But my grandpa said, ‘Step up when it’s your turn.’ And I didn’t know what he meant. A lot of things he said, I didn’t know what he meant.”

The Judge family moved in the middle of the night to Georgetown, Iowa (Monroe County). They helped to build a sandstone Catholic Church there, and they are buried across the street.

“You may want to know why I bring this up,” Judge said. He received many emails from constituents asking him to vote no on this bill. These “were heartfelt emails,” not form letters. “They used the words ‘afraid.’ They used the words ‘not welcome.’ And they also used the words, ‘I’d consider moving.’ So what you’re doing’s not right,” Judge said.

“See, I don’t claim to be an attorney. I don’t act like one. And I don’t need one to tell me what’s right and wrong. I know it in my gut. I know this is wrong. We’re talking about fellow Iowans here.”

Judge said he looks for the good in people and doesn’t look at people as “R versus D,” gay or straight, or “any of that stuff. I just look at you as a person.”

In closing, he circled back to his family history: “See, if you look for good, you’ll find it. And if you look for hate, it’ll live in your heart. So I’m proud to stand up here against this bill. And I’m proud my grandpa said, ‘Step up when it’s your turn.’ I know what he meant.”

I think this speech hit me hard because it touched on an unpleasant truth. There always have been (and probably always will be) people who will demonize marginalized groups, those they don’t understand. The Iowans who drove Irish Catholics out of town in the 1860s were at a base level the same as those who tuned in to hear Father Coughlin scapegoat Jews during the 1930s, and those now consumed with fear and loathing of trans people, the right-wing noise machine’s favorite current target.