(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Governor’s bill draft would put sex changes on Iowa driver’s licenses, birth certificates [1]
['Kathie Obradovich', 'More From Author', 'February']
Date: 2024-02-01
Advocates of LGBTQ rights won a victory at the Iowa Capitol this week – but another battle may be looming.
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office has had a bill drafted – but not yet introduced – that would prevent transgender Iowans who have had gender reassignment surgery from simply changing their sex on their birth certificate or driver’s license.
The bill draft, obtained by Iowa Capital Dispatch, would require a person’s sex at birth to be listed along with any sex reassignment for people seeking to change their birth certificate. The bill would also create a record of any sex changes on the Iowa driver’s license for people who apply to update the document after a reassignment surgery.
The governor does intend to file the bill, her spokesman, Kollin Crompton told Iowa Capital Dispatch. Update: House Study Bill 649 was introduced Thursday afternoon.
“Women and men are not identical; they possess unique biological differences. That’s not controversial, it’s common sense,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Just like we did with girls’ sports, this bill protects women’s spaces and rights afforded to us by Iowa law and the constitution. It’s unfortunate that defining a woman in code has become necessary to protect spaces where women’s health, safety, and privacy are being threatened like domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers. The bill allows the law to recognize biological differences while forbidding unfair discrimination.”
Pete McRoberts, policy director for ACLU of Iowa, said the proposal was “horrifying.”
“It is horrifying that the Governor of Iowa would require transgender Iowans to put their personal and private status and history on their own driver’s licenses for anyone to see,” McRoberts said in a statement to Iowa Capital Dispatch. “Governor Reynolds’ proposal applies anytime a person uses their driver’s license. Under what regime should a person be required to disclose such deeply personal information to someone else? Under this proposal, it’s anytime you show a driver’s license.”
As McRoberts also points out, a driver’s license does contain personal information – age, race, etc. But that information is needed to prove identity. You use a driver’s license to prove you are who you say you are. It does not include a person’s confidential medical history, which is protected by state and federal law to ensure privacy.
“There is no earthly reason why a such deeply personal fact should be on a driver’s license,” McRoberts said. “This is an assault on the very few Iowans who have completed a gender transition and it needs to be understood as such.”
Think of all the times a person shows their driver’s license in day-to-day activities: Traveling by plane, renting a car, paying by check at a store, voting and yes, handing it to a police officer during a traffic stop. If the governor’s bill were law, every one of those incidents becomes an opportunity for discrimination, humiliation or worse.
This is not a national trend like the bathroom bill, which requires people to use facilities for the sex they are assigned at birth. Many deep-red states are passing such legislation. Perhaps the restroom door will become the next place we all have to show our ID. Iowa seems to be alone in pursuing the driver’s license change. It’s a particularly draconian attack on a small group of people who just want the freedom to live as they see fit.
The proposal to document sex-reassignment procedures on Iowans’ birth certificates is also cause for concern.
“The Governor’s birth certificate proposal means that Iowans who have completed a gender transition never truly are recognized by the government for having done so or for who they are,” McRoberts said. “This specific targeting of transgender Iowans means that under law, they never fully transition. They are always recognized as separate from other people as they do their best to live their lives and pursue happiness free from government interference. We strongly oppose this and it should never become law.”
Earlier this week, LGBTQ rights advocates and allies flocked to the Capitol to protest a bill that would eliminate gender identity under Iowa’s civil rights act and declare that people with gender dysphoria are disabled. That bill died in a House subcommittee Wednesday as hundreds of Iowans cheered in the hallway outside.
This bill, if it is introduced, would have the formidable power of the governor of Iowa behind it. This governor had already spent the past year scoring political points by vilifying and demonizing transgender Iowans. She’s also shown how ruthless she’s willing to be in accomplishing her agenda – even to the point of rooting out incumbents in her own party who disagree with her.
This bill, if introduced, won’t die so easily. This bill should never have been drafted and it should not be introduced.
A final word from McRoberts:
“Governor Reynolds should immediately disavow this horrifying attack on the privacy rights of vulnerable Iowans. There is no place for such a clear and self-evident abuse of power in our state.”
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[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/02/01/governors-bill-draft-would-put-sex-changes-on-iowa-drivers-licenses-birth-certificates/
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