Iowa House reviewing, passing several anti-LGBTQ+ bills

The Iowa House continues to review and pass bills that strip the rights of trans individuals and further establishes the growing divide LGBTQ+ individuals experience in today’s society.

LGBTQ+ topics in middle schools along with high schools would be banned as the Iowa House continues to advance a bill to extend the 2023 K-6 ban. In 2023, Iowa lawmakers passed a law that bans LGBTQ+ related topics within K-6 classrooms. Now, in 2025, the Iowa House recently proposed a bill that would extend this ban to middle and high school classes, effectively banning these topics across secondary schools throughout the state. Although the current ban consisting of K-6 schools is being tried in court, receiving consistent backlash from school districts as the law shows itself to be somewhat vague, Iowa lawmakers have been quickly and consistently advancing this bill through the Iowa House. The ban is only part of a wave of Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that has swept the nation, causing an uproar amongst the LGBTQ+ community. 

On Feb. 28, Iowa lawmakers also succeeded in passing a bill that strips civil rights protections from those who identify as transgender, making Iowa the first state to pass such a bill. This bill essentially removes anti-discrimination protections priorly held by the community, protecting them from housing, public accommodation and employment discrimination.  

Many transgender advocates said it opens up transgender people to more discrimination and will allow more bills against the community to pass more easily without their previous civil rights protections. Conversely, conservatives believe that by stripping transgender people from the civil rights act, it will help protect women and clearly identify the differences between women and men. Despite everything, however, it’s apparent that in the following years to come, the battle for LGBTQ+ rights will prove itself an exhausting struggle. 

If you want to learn more about this topic, check out local news as well as this article from IPR (The Iowa Public Radio) for additional information.