UPDATE as of 2/20/23
The bill has been renumbered as HF348 and is eligible to be debated on the House floor soon.
This bill prohibits the following actions by an Iowa public school or charter school:
1. Facilitating an accommodation meant to affirm a student’s gender identity if that identity does not match the sex listed on the student’s official birth certificate, without the written consent of the student’s parent or guardian.
2. “Encouraging or coercing any student to withhold information from the student’s parent or guardian related to the student’s gender identity.”
3. Willfully withholding information from, or knowingly giving false or misleading information to a parent or guardian about their child’s gender identity or intent to transition to a gender different than their sex listed at birth.
4. “Encouraging, pressuring, or coercing a student to undergo any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention that is designed to affirm the student’s gender identity if that gender identity is different than the sex listed on a student’s official birth certificate
5. “Encouraging, pressuring, or coercing a student’s parent or guardian to allow the student to undergo any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention that is designed to affirm the student’s gender identity if that gender identity is different than the sex listed on the student’s official birth certificate.”
House File 9 has passed out of subcommittee and committee as of Tuesday, January 31st. I attended the committee meeting which included lengthy caucuses and lasted for over 6 hours. This is clearly a contentious issue and I intend to stand boldly on the side of parents.