Iowa bars local gender identity protections after rolling back its civil rights code

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new Iowa law bans local nondiscrimination protections on the basis of gender identity after the state became the first in the U.S. to rollback its civil rights code last year.

The preemption law took effect Tuesday, as soon as Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it. It prevents cities and counties from having civil rights protections that go beyond the categories identified in state code.

Many cities across the state have gender identity protections on their books, including liberal populous centers, Des Moines and Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. Last month, Ames, which is home to Iowa State University, enacted an ordinance enacting gender identity protections.

Republicans who control the House and Senate said the preemption law provides clarity on which classes are protected. Democrats objected.

“There could literally be hundreds of situations where we have conflicts with local ordinances,” said Republican state Rep. Steve Holt. “And considering the climate that we’re in today, a patchwork of different civil rights ordinances would be extremely difficult for businesses and schools to navigate.”

At least two other states, Arkansas and Tennessee, have laws that prohibit local nondiscrimination ordinances that are broader than state law, according to researchers at Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights think tank.

Sexual orientation and gender identity were not originally included in Iowa's Civil Rights Act of 1965. They were added by the then-Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2007 with the support of about a dozen Republicans.

Last year, Reynolds and other Iowa Republicans said that the nondiscrimination protections could not coexist with recent laws to restrict transgender students’ use of such spaces as bathrooms and locker rooms, and their participation on sports teams.

Iowa’s civil rights law protects against discrimination based on race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin or disability status.

In Iowa City, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Des Moines, gender identity protections against discrimination have been in local code for about 30 years, said Laura Bergus, a City Council member and lawyer.

After last year's state law was enacted, the city passed a resolution “to reinforce the fact that we had that authority and to make sure that our residents knew that discrimination on the basis of gender identity specifically was still prohibited in Iowa City,” Bergus said Wednesday.

Bergus said the new law is “extreme overreach,” preventing local governments from responding to the needs of their community, and Iowa City is considering legal action.

“Our local leadership remains committed to protecting all of us,” Bergus said.

Iowans have until April 27 to file a civil rights complaint with the state on the basis of gender identity for incidents that occurred before the civil rights code rollback took effect on July 1, 2025. Only one complaint has been accepted for investigation since then, according to data provided by the Iowa Office of Civil Rights as of Feb. 13.

By contrast, 46 complaints on the basis of gender identity were accepted for investigation during the previous 12 months.

The rollback also removed Iowans' ability to request a change to the sex designation on their birth certificate.

In 2025, from January through June 208 birth certificates had sex designation changes, according to state health department data provided to The Associated Press. That was significantly higher than in 2024, when there were 135 requests over the course of the entire year.

The state no longer tracks how many birth certificate changes it receives but continues to get them, according to the state health department. All are rejected.