Iowa became the first state to remove gender identity protections from its civil rights code on Friday, legally defining a person by their reproductive organs at birth and rejecting the idea that a person can transition to another gender.
Over 1,000 protestors occupied the capital when legislators voted 60-36 to pass the bill, claiming that it will expose transgender people and other Iowans to discrimination.
Gov. Kim Reynolds disagreed, stating that removing transgender identity protections from the state’s civil rights code aligns Iowa with federal civil rights regulations that recognize only two sexes.
GOP lawmakers also argued that the bill was necessary to prevent gender identity from taking precedence over women’s rights and creating a protected class based on personal feelings.