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This past week, Iowa’s legislature rolled back human rights for transgender people. Senate File 418 was rushed from draft bill to passage within a week and sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed it on Feb, 28.
Iowans should ask questions.
This is not about transgender women playing sports — fewer than 10 collegiate student-athletes identify as transgender, according to Charlie Baker, the N.C.A.A. president, said in January.
According to a report published by Williams Institute, a UCLA Law School think tank, in 2022, of an estimated 332 million people living in the US, 1.3 million adults and 300,000 young people ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender — about a half percent and 1.4% of the population respectively.
Of the 1.3 million adults and 300,000 young people, not all identify as women — Iowa’s legislation specifically targets transgender women — or play sports. (Iowa’s 2022 law on sports specifically targeted transgender girls and women.)
The number is even smaller when it comes to middle school and high school transgender athletes. Gillian Branstetter, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union, told Newsweek that Save Women’s Sports, a leading voice in the bid to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports, identified only five transgender athletes competing on girls’ teams in school sports for grades K-12.
Iowa’s legislation is also not about bathrooms because there’s a solution for that — visit Tribute Eatery & Bar in Coralville’s Iowa River Landing to see how ALL public restrooms should be designed for cost and function — one restroom, individual stalls with floor-to-ceiling dividers and doors, and no entrance door. Minnesota K-12 schools use this design concept to make supervision and monitoring easy and effective.
Iowa Republican lawmakers seem to believe reproduction is based on faith, based on the wording of Senate File 418. But it should be about science and education.
The website Those Nerdy Girls explains reproduction is rooted in science and chromosomes. Most people either have XY chromosomes and develop typical male anatomy or have XX chromosomes and develop typical female anatomy. But this isn’t true for everyone. Some people are XXY or XO and have slightly different anatomy and hormone levels than their typical XY or XX counterparts. Even when sex chromosomes are XX or XY, body parts don’t always develop into strictly female or male anatomy.
Some XX individuals are born with testes, penis and scrotum and some XY individuals are born with a volva and vagina but no uterus. Other times the external anatomy looks like something in between a penis and vulva and is called “ambiguous genitalia.” There are lots of different combinations.
More research, not less, is needed to understand why chromosomes develop atypically or mismatch.
These same legislators must believe that God determines human anatomy.
Fact-based science education is critical to understanding. When lawmakers dictate education curriculum from their legislative desks in Des Moines, Iowa students lack the necessary information to prepare them for post-secondary education, future jobs, and life.
Faith plays an important role in our lives, but faith does not and cannot replace knowledge.
Linda Schreiber, Iowa City
Well, it’s a little over a month since the “Chosen One” became president of the United States. When I look at what has happened to my country in this short time, I really wonder, “Who in the heck chose him?”
He has appointed the most unqualified, inexperienced cabinet officials in our nation’s history. The only qualifications they have is that they publicly say Trump really won the 2020 election and they swear undying loyalty to their great leader.
Somehow or other he has installed Elon Musk as “something.” Elon is happily going around firing government employees willy nilly, looking for waste and inefficiency and supposedly saving us billions of dollars. Of course the easier way to save billions every week would be to end the government subsidies for Elon’s car and space businesses. Unthinkable. We couldn’t consider doing anything to hurt any of our billionaires. Oh yes. About all those firings. They fired the scientists and nuclear experts who maintain our nuclear arsenal and then realized they were the only people who knew what they were doing. They tried to rehire them but couldn’t find them. Very efficient and a great example of competency. They also fired the scientists who were working on a solution to the bird flu. Oops. Once again they tried to rehire them but couldn’t find them. Park rangers, USDA, Internal Revenue, CDC, USAID, Education, FBI — the list goes on and on. Total chaos and every American is left wondering if and when the programs and services they depend on will be eliminated. Oh yes, we also have the exciting prospect of tariffs being imposed and nobody really knows what the effect of those will be.
And then there is the blatant racism, homophobia and the attempt to end any and all efforts to make inclusion and equality a goal for our country. For the Chosen One “We the people” definitely does not mean all the people. The evil of DEI training is being drummed into our little heads. Schools, business and government agencies who would dare to continue DEI training will face reprisals. Transgender rights seem to be a prime target for our honorable leaders. Sickening.
Our foreign policy has been turned on its head. Putin good. Ukraine bad. Putin peacemaker. Ukraine started the war. NATO bad. Dictators good. Extortion is good, demanding Ukraine give us all their mineral rights for eternity, saying they have to pay us back for our support in their war to save their country from Putin’s invasion. This is not what Congress voted for when they approved support for Ukraine. There was nothing in the bill that said Ukraine had to pay us back. I guess we used to believe in democracy. Now it seems like we revere Nazis. Elon Musk and Steve Bannon both publicly give Nazi salutes and not a single Republican says anything about it. The crowds at both of these events cheered wildly for the Nazi salute.
Immigrants and concentration camps will take another long, separate letter. Suffice it to say Trump is out-Hitlering Hitler, getting his first concentration camps up and running much quicker than Hitler did. Until then I’ll try to figure out how in the world religious people see Trump as the second coming of Christ.
Barbara Paulding, Russell
Here we are again. In 2015 Americans were given the right to unite legally into same sex marriages. And despite that 69% of Americans are still aligned, off to the Supreme Court we go.
Voters cited tackling government spending, state's rights, immigration, and overall economic welfare as major factors in voting and placing Donald Trump into office. Yet, we continue to be bamboozled with arguing the validity of someone's marriage. The irony. This is precisely why America isn't working right now. In a democracy, it's the checks and balances and the ability to legislate through negotiation that keeps us from tripping on the proverbial tight rope of politics. But not now. Now we are catering to a small group of people wanting to validate their perceived religious beliefs through policy while shouting about the price of foreign oil and while doing an about face on thier position on electric cars. I’ve never doubted Elon's strategic endeavors.
Take a bow as we dismantle our government one agency at a time, Although unethical, sloppy, and chaotic, you might get your cut in government spending. But the self-righteousness of running someone's marriage up the flag pole while you tell people over coffee that you voted because of the price of eggs is about as diabolical as it comes.
Liz Gries Billups, Charlotte, N.C.
Wow! A more than duly diligent citizen of Decatur County is formally threatened by the county attorney for alerting her fellow and perhaps less diligent citizens to the poor attendance record of one of the county supervisors at board meetings. She ought to have been appointed to replace the absentee who doesn’t appear to be earning his salary. My answer to the question posed in the headline is methinks the Founders would think the county attorney doth protest too much. Or at least that his protest was misdirected. One wonders why he took such umbrage on behalf of an apparently derelict county official.
Maybe my bias in favor of those who bother to write letters to editors is showing.
Mike Wellman, Des Moines
The “unitary” theory of the executive department says the President has total power over every personnel decision in the executive branch. (“This theory is behind Trump’s power grab,” New York Times, Feb. 26).
In fact, the unitary theory violates the spirit of the “separation of powers” in American government, which says power must be dis-aggregated as much as possible inside every branch as well as across the three branches of government.
How do we know this? Because the Founding Fathers debated having a dual chief executive like the ancient Roman democracy did. Rome had two “consuls” (Presidents) and a variety of other powerful executive branch figures like the Roman “censor,” who dealt with accountability issues like our modern Inspectors General do.
The Founders, while superficially giving control over the early executive branch cabinet members to the President, intended for them to function autonomously, and they did.
The President as “dictator” in his branch overturns the clear intent of democracy in general and our Founders in specific. His firing of the Inspectors General just adds to the authoritarian trend.
Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah
New slogan on signs at Iowa borders: Iowa — A Haven For Hate.
David Weiss, Ankeny
According to this paper, we had a terrible blizzard 75 years ago, and the lake didn’t freeze over. Wonder what people thought back then. Today we have been told all bad weather is caused by us. We are causing climate change. We must put up windmills, solar farms, buy electric cars and build carbon pipelines. If we don’t we will all die. Just the United States must do this, the rest of the world don’t.
Here’s the truth, the climate has been changing since the beginning of time.
Tom Wessman, Albert City
I discovered your writing on Substack. Not sure why but Julie Gammack’s Potluck Podcast showed up in my inbox. I was unable to leave a comment on your Bamboozled column. I read Mike Judge’s interview with you. May the great copy editor in the heavens above see fit to let your story run for years to come. I enjoy your straight no holds barred reporting. I had thought about journalism as a career and had been accepted at U of Iowa in 1977. I got some scholarship money but turned it down to enter the workforce. Thinking it was too expensive to go to school. I’d work awhile and go later. Life happened.
Your interview with Mike was interesting, two Iowa boys, world travelers come home. The picture of you and your brother by the printing press, was that a Goss press? I worked at their newspaper press manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids for 22 years before we were outsourced to China. I hope to see many more stories from you. Speedy recovery, chief!
Keith Moyer, Nevada
Hey, Congressional Democrats, listen up. During President Trump's address last evening, he honored a brave 13-year-old young man who has battled brain cancer by naming him an honorary member of the Secret Service. This was certainly an emotional and well-deserved recognition for this young “hero.” And what did you do? You sat on your sorry asses because your hate for President Trump is so great that you could not do the right thing for once.
Brad Strader, Storm Lake
After witnessing the events of President Trump‘s address to both houses of Congress and to the American people, it is quite evident that the Democrat party did not get the memo from the AMERICAN people about “If you can’t beat President Trump, you should join him.” With the antics displayed by the Democrat party on Tuesday night it is quite evident that they are void of leadership and the only policy they have is to hate Trump. Maybe it is time for the DNC to fold up their tent and migrate to China.
Very sincerely and MAGA.
Jeff Myers, Newell
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