 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
LGBTQ rights in Iowa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Legal status | Legal since 1978 (Legislative repeal) |
| Gender identity | Legal gender/sex defined at birth based on gametes expected to be produced later in life. Gender changes legally unrecognized for transgender and non-binary individuals, regardless ofhormonal orsurgical interventions. |
| Discrimination protections | Sexual orientation protected. Gender identity was formerly protected from 2007–2025. |
| Family rights | |
| Recognition of relationships | Same-sex marriage since 2009 |
| Adoption | Same-sex couples allowed to adopt |
Lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the U.S. state of Iowa have evolved significantly in the 21st century.Iowa began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on April 27, 2009 following a ruling by theIowa Supreme Court, making Iowa the fourth[i] U.S. state to legalizesame-sex marriage. Same-sex couples may also adopt, and state laws ban discrimination based onsexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations. In February 2025, theIowa Legislature passed a bill with a 'veto-proof majority' to completely remove "gender identity" from the state's anti-discrimination laws, which was implemented in 2007.Iowa governorKim Reynolds signed the bill into law, which went into effect on July 1, making Iowa the first state to remove anti-discrimination protections for any class of people.[1][2]
Prior toEuropean settlement of Iowa in the early 19th century, severalNative American tribes inhabited the area. These include theDakota andOmaha peoples. Among these people groups, perceptions towardgender andsexuality differed significantly from that of the Western world. The Dakota recognize individuals known aswinkta who were assigned male at birth but act and behave as women. Likewise, the Omaha refer to such individuals asmix'uga.
When theIowa Territory was established in 1838, it adopted all its laws from theWisconsin Territory. This included an anti-sodomy law providing punishment of up to three years' imprisonment. In 1843, shortly before statehood, the Iowa Territorial Legislature enacted Iowa's first criminal code. It made no mention to sodomy, making it legal in Iowa. In 1860, theIowa Supreme Court, in the case ofEstes v. Carter, noted the lack of such a law. The state made no effort to overturn this decision or enact a sodomy law.[3]
In 1892, a statute was enacted, providing for imprisonment of between one and ten years for sodomy, whether heterosexual or homosexual. The law punished consensual activity as well. The first criminal conviction occurred in 1900, in the case ofState v. Todd.Fellatio (oral sex), whether heterosexual or homosexual, was made criminal in 1902. Over the following years, the courts convicted multiple people of sodomy. In 1911, the state passed asterilization law, under which "moral or sexual perverts" could be sterilized; anyone twice convicted would be immediately sterilized. In 1914, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Iowa overturned this law as unconstitutional. The state appealed, and in 1917, inDavis v. Berry et al., the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling. 49 people were sterilized under the law. In 1929, however, the state enacted a new sterilization law. This law, different from the previous one as it guaranteed somedue process rights to the defendants, was not overturned until 1977. By 1948, 891 Iowans had been sterilized under the statute. In 1955, the state passed a psychopathic offender law, under which any person "having criminal propensities toward the commission of sex offenses" would be treated as "mental psychopaths" and sent topsychiatric hospitals. That same year, the murder of a boy inSioux City led to the mass detention of several gay men who were sent to asylums, despite none of them having been convicted of the crime.[3]
In 1976, in a bitterly divided 5–4 ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court held that heterosexual sodomy could not be prosecuted. "There [is] no compelling state interest in the manner of sexual relations performed in private between consenting adults of the opposite sex not married to each other", the court wrote. It did not address same-sex sexual activity in its ruling.[3]
The state's law criminalizing same-sex sexual activity was repealed in 1978.[4][5] Following the 1976 Supreme Court ruling, which held that heterosexual relations could not be prosecuted under the state's sodomy statute, theIowa General Assembly passed a comprehensive criminal code which made no mention to sodomy. The age of consent is 16, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.
In 1976, Tracy Lee Bjorgum and Kenneth Bunch, fromSolon, Iowa, filed one of the first lawsuits in the country seeking the right of same-sex couples to marry.[6] Lee Bjorgum was a 20-year-old student at theUniversity of Iowa. Bunch was a custodian at the University of Iowa hospitals, as well as a spokesperson for the Gay Liberation Front.[7] Saying they wanted "the right to exist", the men appeared inJohnson County District Court, and requested a marriage license. It was denied.[8] Months later they did the same inPolk County, were again denied, and theACLU of Iowa filed a lawsuit on their behalf, but the lawsuit was unsuccessful.[9]
Iowa has provided benefits to same-sex partners of state employees since 2003.[10]
Iowa has allowed for state recognition of same-sex marriages performed in and out of the state since April 3, 2009, after theIowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld a ruling by the Polk County District Court inVarnum v. Brien which effectively forced the state to rescind any outstanding discrimination against same-sex couples who wish to have their marriages recognized and licensed under state law.[11] Iowa marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples for the first time on April 27, 2009.[12]
In response to the decision, several attempts to amend thestate Constitution, either by presenting a ballot initiative before the voters or calling a state constitutional convention, to ban same-sex marriage failed.[13]
Three of the Iowa Supreme Court justices who participated inVarnum were removed from office as the result of judicial retention elections in November 2010,[14] following a campaign by groups opposed to same-sex marriage.[15] However, in November 2012, a fourth member of the Iowa Supreme Court that participated inVarnum was retained after vigorous campaigning by groups opposed to same-sex marriage and groups supporting same-sex marriage and judicial independence.[16]
In February 2022, it was reported that effective since January 1, 2022 that the United Methodist Church within Iowa itself does permit recognition and practice of same-sex marriage.[17]
Joint adoption by married same-sex couples has been legal since a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court in 2008.[18] Iowa law allows individuals and married couples, regardless of sexual orientation, toadopt.[19]
On December 12, 2012, ruling inBuntemeyer v. Iowa DPH, a state court ordered the Iowa Department of Public Health to list the names of two women, a married lesbian couple, on the death certificate of their stillborn son.[20] TheIowa Supreme Court heard arguments that same day in the department's appeal of a decision inGartner v. Newton that ordered it to enter the names of two women as parents on a birth certificate.[21] On May 3, 2013, the court unanimously affirmed the lower court's ruling inGartner and said that "By naming the nonbirthing spouse on the birth certificate of a married lesbian couple's child, the child is ensured support from that parent and the parent establishes fundamental legal rights at the moment of birth".[22]
Lesbian couples have access toin vitro fertilization and fertility treatments. State law recognizes the non-genetic, non-gestational mother as a legal parent to a child born via donor insemination, but only if the parents are married.[23] Although Iowa does not possess any definedsurrogacy laws, courts are generally favorable to couples, different-sex or same-sex, who use the gestational or traditional surrogacy process.[24]
.jpg)
.jpg)
Since 2007, Iowa has outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations.[25] The state's largest city,Des Moines, has had a non-discrimination ordinance of its own since 1991.
On February 2025, under enacted Iowa legislation - gender identity was formally removed from anti-discrimination laws and goes into effect from July 1. Iowa became the first US state to formally remove 'gender identity' from any civil rights and anti-discrimination legislation. Iowa also became the first state in the Nation to take any protected group away from Civil Rights protections.[26]
Iowa'shate crime law provides penalty enhancements for crimes committed on the basis of the victim's sexual orientation, but not gender identity.[27]
On March 8, 2016, theIowa Senate approved a bill, in a 27–21 vote, that would have added gender identity to the law.[28] However, the bill subsequently died without a vote in the Republican-controlledHouse.[29]
Although Iowa's hate crime law does not cover gender identity, U.S. federal law has covered this category since theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed into law in October 2009.
As of July 1, 2025, transgender people in Iowa may not alter their legal gender, such as on government IDs or documents, or be legally recognized differently from theirassigned sex. This was enacted bySenate File 418 during the 2025 Iowa Legislative Session. The bill stripped gender transition language (added in 2007) from the Iowa Code and implements anunchangeable,binary legal definition of sex, determined at birth, based on thegametes expected to be produced later in life.[30]
In March 2019, theIowa Supreme Court declared thatsex reassignment surgery must be covered under the state'sMedicaid program. However, a month later, theIowa General Assembly quickly passed a bill in the final hours of the legislative session, banning state funding for sex reassignment surgeries, which reversed the Supreme Court ruling. Days later, the bill was signed into law byGovernorKim Reynolds.[31][32][33][34][35] In November 2021, a Polk County District Court judge ruled that this ban was unconstitutional.[36] In June 2025, Governor Reynolds signed another law[37] banning Medicaid coverage for transgender surgeries and hormone treatments. The ban went into effect on July 1, 2025.[38]
In March 2022, theIowa General Assembly passed a bill, which was signed into law byGovernor of IowaKim Reynolds, that uses "sex at birth" to limitwomen's sports to cisgender females only, effectively barring transgender girls and women from participation. The bill also gives legal cause for civil lawsuits for "any direct or indirect harm as a result of a violation". The bill applied to all accredited educational institutions, public or private, includingpost-secondary institutions such as colleges and universities. The law went into effect on July 1, 2022.[39][40][41][42]
In March 2023,Senate File 538 passed both houses of theIowa General Assembly, banning the provision of any and all gender-affirming healthcare to transgender minors within Iowa.GovernorKim Reynolds signed the bill, which took effect immediately.[43][44][45][46] For minors who are currently receiving gender-affirming care, healthcare providers must cease providing it to that person within 180 days.[47]
In March 2023, a bill passed both houses of theIowa General Assembly to require students to have written permission from a parent or guardian before using a single-person restroom at school.[47]
In May 2023, theGovernor of Iowa signed a bill into law (that passed theIowa Legislature) which officially banned "sexual orientation and gender identity lessons within Iowa school classrooms between Kindergarten to grade 6".[48][49][50]
On March 17, 2015, theIowa Senate voted 26–24 to bansexual orientation change efforts (conversion therapy) on LGBT minors.[51] The bill, however, died without a vote in the Republican-controlledIowa House of Representatives.[52]
On April 8, 2016, the Iowa Board of Medicine announced it would look into a proposal to ban the use of conversion therapy on LGBT minors. The board, however, denied a petition from members of the State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council which wanted an administrative rule prohibiting Iowa doctors from practicing conversion therapy on minors. Instead, the board said it would form a subcommittee to study the topic.[53] On August 12, the board declined to take action on a ban.[54]
On August 12, 2016, the Iowa Board of Psychology voted down a proposal to prohibit state-licensed professionals from engaging in conversion therapy. The board unanimously agreed that such practices should be banned; however, they argued that this was the responsibility of theGeneral Assembly.[55] The board added that any person may file a complaint if there are concerns about a psychologist's practice and any complaint regarding conversion therapy employed by a licensed psychologist will be investigated.[56]
In April 2020,Davenport became the first city in Iowa to pass an ordinance banning conversion therapy on minors. The ordinance was approved 8–2 by the Davenport City Council on April 22, 2020.[57][58]
In March 2020, the state House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill by a vote of 95–0 to abolish thegay panic defence. The Iowa House of Representatives has passed this legislation twice now, but both times the Republican controlled Iowa Senate has refused[59] to take up the legislation, while still finding time to legislate that governmental agencies and entities, school districts, and public postsecondary educational institutions are banned from teaching so-called "divisive concepts" based on race or sex.[60] This legislation has the opportunity to open the door to further discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals, denying educators and others tasked with training and teaching the history of oppression faced by LGBTQ+ individuals and especially those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color,[61] while protecting conservative ideas.[62]
A 2017Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) opinion poll found that 59% of Iowans supported same-sex marriage, while 33% opposed it and 7% were unsure.[63] The same poll found that 68% of Iowans supported an anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity, 23% were opposed.[64] Furthermore, 55% were against allowing public businesses to refuse to serve LGBTQ people due to religious beliefs, while 37% supported allowing such religiously-based refusals.[65]
A 2022Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) poll found that 75% of Iowans support same-sex marriage, while 20% were opposed and 4% were unsure. The same poll found that 85% of Iowans supported an anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity. 11% were opposed.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | % support | % opposition | % no opinion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Religion Research Institute | January 2-December 30, 2019 | 622 | ? | 69% | 24% | 7% |
| Public Religion Research Institute | January 3-December 30, 2018 | 723 | ? | 68% | 28% | 4% |
| Public Religion Research Institute | April 5-December 23, 2017 | 895 | ? | 68% | 23% | 9% |
| Public Religion Research Institute | April 29, 2015-January 7, 2016 | 1,103 | ? | 71% | 24% | 5% |
| Same-sex sexual activity legal |  (Since 1978) |
| Equal age of consent (16) | (Since 1978) |
| Anti-discrimination laws covering sexual orientation | (Since 2007) |
| Anti-discrimination laws covering gender identity |  / (From 2007 to 2025; gender identity no longer covered and removed effective July 1, 2025 under enacted Iowa laws) |
| Same-sex marriages | (Since 2009) |
| Joint and stepchild adoption by same-sex couples | (Since 2008) |
| Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people allowed to serve openly in the military | (Since 2011) |
| Transgender people allowed to serve openly in the military | (Since 2025, perExecutive Order 14183) |
| Intersex people allowed to serve openly in the military | (Current DoD policy bans "hermaphrodites" from serving or enlisting in the military)[66] |
| Right to change legal gender | (as of July 1, 2025, previously legal gender changes could occur) |
| Conversion therapy banned on minors | / (Davenport only)[57] |
| Abolition of thegay panic defense | |
| Access toIVF for lesbian couples | |
| Surrogacy arrangements legal for gay male couples | |
| MSMs allowed to donate blood | (Since 2023, FDA condition of being monogamous)[67] |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
