Imagine knowing there is a constant target on your back just because of your identity. Well, for students in Iowa and many states all over the country, they don’t have to imagine. While The U.S. legalized gay marriage in 2015, the rights of LGBTQ+ people are now being threatened by the people we have voted into office.

  As of March 8, over 417 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced at a state level in most states. one of those being the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that was passed in Florida. The bill states that it will “prohibit classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in a specified manner.” After the bill took effect, other states saw this as an opportunity to try and pass anti-LGBTQ+ bills, one of which was Iowa. 

   House File nine is, “An act relating to parental and guardian consent and information regarding the gender identity of students enrolled in a school district or charter school.” 

   House File nine was approved on Jan. 31. This bill will force students to use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex they were born as and not the gender they identify with. It will also forcefully out transgender and non-binary students and staff to parents, friends, and community members. This bill is harmful and it is disgusting that Iowa has passed this law.

  Iowa’s legislatures have introduced 29 anti-gay bills, and two that have or will directly affect Iowa schools, House File eight and House File nine. To say that these bills are ridiculous would be an understatement. The LGBTQ+ community has faced discrimination since the beginning of time. Gay and Trans people deserve the same amount of rights and opportunities as heterosexual and cis gendered people. These bills will do the opposite. These bills will strip the rights of queer and transgender students all over Iowa.Serious changes need to be made to our political system if these are the legislations that are being introduced and passed by the house and senate. 

  91% of transgender and non binary youth said that they have worried about transgender people being denied access to the bathroom due to state or local laws.

81% of Transgender and Non-binary peoples have reported thoughts of suicide or harming themselves.

Transgender people are already at a higher risk of mental health issues, the laws banning them from using the bathrooms and locker rooms of their preferred gender will make these rates rise.  Speaking from personal experience, the pandemic, resurgence of in person school and threatening bills being introduced and passed all over the country, the stress and fear of the rights of people (including mine) being taken away is world shattering.

   People, who are usually older, more conservative, straight, cis, white, or just completely uneducated, believe that having Transgender and Queer lessons and representation in our school system will ‘stunt the growth of our children”. When in actuality the banning of books that present openly LGBTQ+ characters and authors will do much worse than a child seeing a drag queen being their authentic self in a book will. These people reporting schools and libraries for having a lesson or book that include LGBTQ+ representation, Trans and Queer staff, or anything that could possibly be connected back to being gay, claim they are protecting their children and the ones to come after that. There are not enough words in any language that will help me get across that limiting kids’ knowledge about real people in the world will never work. It will damage and blur their vision of the world.

   A world without inclusion and diversity, a world that I never want to experience. These bills will effectively strip love and acceptance from our school system, making Gay and Trans youth feel like outliers and unloved by the people who are supposed to be protecting us, more than we already do. It might be cringe or lame to say, but we are the feature, we are the change. There are things we can do to stop these bills and more like them from passing. Call your governors, your representatives, your mayor. Start protests, spread the word, use your voice for the better. But most importantly, be a good person.