In a society that oppresses queer and trans youth, Iowa education is trying to take it a step further.

Two bills were introduced on Jan. 17 that will make it harder for youth to be educated and respected on the topic of LGBTQ.  House File 8 would restrict instruction relating to gender or sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade. House File 9 prohibits schools from “facilitating any accommodation that is intended to affirm a student’s gender,” knowingly withholding information about a student’s gender from the parental figure(s) and encouraging the student to withhold this information. This also prohibits schools from encouraging a student from getting gender-affirming medical help.

These files come after Linn-Mar passed a policy to allow students to receive gender-affirming support without notifying parents.

House File 8 will prevent our youth from learning about different ways of life. It will prevent kids from being able to understand their queer peers and will create an obstacle for students to learn about themselves and accept themselves.

House File 9 will create significant problems for Iowa’s youth. Should a student be forced to be outed to a non-accepting family, it puts them at risk of being mistreated and getting kicked out. How would it feel to have your child on the streets for being who they are?

A reported 28% of LGBTQ youth have experienced homelessness. A majority are transgender and over half ran away because of mistreatment from family members. Should House File 9 be implemented, these numbers will only rise.

“This only is the start of lawmakers stripping away the rights we fought for. People are going to keep trying to get rid of LGBTQ+ supporting laws. I fear that it’ll only get worse,” Junior Cael Cummins said.

As our generation tries to improve the societal views on queer students, Iowa continues to regress. With Governor Kim Reynolds promoting transphobic ideals and these bills going through congress, I fear for what this means for the future of students and queer youth. 

“To the supporters of this bill, I ask you; why?” Cummins said. “Why are you adamant on keeping children from becoming knowledgeable on the world around them? Why can children be aware of gun violence and fear for their lives in public, but they can’t know about the history of drag or why their classmate has two moms? Why has your hate gone so far?”