With the special session for the #KimReynolds #Abortion Ban tomorrow, figured I'd remind you that this is #classwarfare. Fight back #Iowa. Protest tomorrow at the Capitol in #DesMoines. Come early.
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#ialegis #iagov #iowademocrats #iowadems #cedarrapids #davenport #siouxcity #ames #clinton #urbandale #dubuque #iowahawkeyes #abortionrights #abortionban #ia

From the #GHArchive: 4/8/22

Outtake during a photo shoot with #Iowa State Rep. (now Senator) Liz Bennett when her cat jumped up on the desk for about the 8th time.

#IALegis #campaignphotography

We need more courage, less posturing.

You actually CAN be the change. Use your power. Stand up and speak out.
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RT @CovingtonEDU
This is what courage as a lawmaker looks like. Nebraska state Sen. Cavanaugh has filibustered the entire session to prevent a slate of anti-trans bills from being passed: "I will burn this session to the ground over this bill." Take notes #ialegis

https://www.businessinsider.com/nebraska-hasnt-passed-a-…
https://twitter.com/CovingtonEDU/status/1639275490866348034

#Iowa #IALegis

Governor Reynolds is a disgusting pile of shit.

Before her reign of terror, trans people had secured a major victory with the lawsuit that stated the Medicaid ban on gender confirming surgeries was unconstitutional and discrimination.

Now, this week, Reynolds signs a bill into law that makes gender confirming healthcare (as in ANY healthcare) illegal for anyone under 18. This is after she signed a bill that made discussing race, sexual orientation, and gender identity a "controversial topic" to be avoided in schools. This is after she signed a bill banning trans kids from competing in sports.

Anyone who claims this is "for the children" is fucking asshole. No, this is blatant attempt to kill trans people by targeting our youth. And it's going to harm not just trans people as doctors scramble to avoid ANY healthcare that may fall under the vague "gender-confirming healthcare" stipulations in the bill, which means even cisgender people may not get the meds or care they might need.

Where the hell are the people fighting this? Why is it mostly students doing walk-outs and marches on the capitol?

Why aren't people engaging in Covid-safe protocols to ramp up the protests and fights to stop more anti-trans legislation? The Right are doing everything they can to push for genocide of marginalized populations.

I'm ill, get around in a wheelchair, can't drive myself, and struggle with having energy to do much, but I can write and edit and help folks put together flyers and such. But instead, I get silence. I get folks making excuses to roll over and let the genocides and eugenic policies continue. It's alarming, and I know part of it is the massive gaslighting happening but also part of it is people in denial. Denial about the fact that it very much CAN happen here and HAS happened here for most of America's history.

I'm so tired, fatigued, broken down, and frustrated. I'm running on fumes, and I don't have any way to flee this state if this gets worse (it will if Reynolds stays in power and Democrats continue their flailing uselessness). And that is terrifying, but it's far, far more terrifying for my friends of color and our youth.

Iowa: Click below, tell legislators NO to extension of Daylight Saving Time into winter. End clock change with permanent Standard Time instead! #ialegis https://www.votervoice.net/AASM/Campaigns/102580/Respond

No on HF-498. Permanent DST cost lives in 1974. Amend to permanent Standard Time for kids, farmers, commuters. Tell your legislators here: https://www.votervoice.net/AASM/Campaigns/102580/Respond #ialegis

No on HF-498. Permanent DST cost lives in 1974. Amend to permanent Standard Time for kids, farmers, commuters. Tell your legislators here: https://www.votervoice.net/AASM/Campaigns/102580/Respond #ialegis

ARRRGGGGHHHHHHH.

https://www.iowapublicradio.org/state-government-news/2023-03-08/iowa-lawmakers-pass-ban-on-gender-affirming-medical-care-for-transgender-minors

Every single person who voted on this bill has blood on their hands. Lack of access to gender-affirming healthcare has been proven to INCREASE risk of suicide and health related issues. Kids will die because of this. We've seen this in other states.

Republicans are trying to destroy every shred of protections we had.

Also, how can that bill even stand up as valid? Anti-discrimination against trans people is codified into Iowa's constitution, and that bill is blatant discrimination and goes against all the medical organizations studies and recommendations on this. I hope the state is sued to hell and back again.

I'm furious. There's six other anti-trans bills that made it to the debate floor. If they pass, then my existence and the existence of all trans people here is fucked. We barely had two decades of our rights being upheld in law, and now it's all torn down and shredded, us used as scapegoats for fascists. And Black and Brown Trans youth are going to be hit the hardest of our demographic, and I'm in tears.

America is being flooded with horrific misinformation and lies about us and more and more states are enacting outright genocidal laws against us. America has always been a white supremacist imperialist genocidal nation, and it's why I wish we could tear it down and rebuild something better, more just more accessible more equitable.

#Trans #TransYouth #ProtectTransYouth #Iowa #IALegis

I 've lived in Iowa for 25 yrs now. It used to be a Reddish-Purple state. Republicans used to be, for the most part, quite reasonable, and conservative in the dictionary sense of the word. For example, they used to favor and support excellent public education in the state. Also, Iowa was one of the first states to legalize same sex marriage. Now Iowa is becoming a deep-Red, regressive state. What happened? @LauraRBelin has some ideas:
#Iowa #GOP #ialegis
https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/03/01/iowa-republicans-didnt-always-push-anti-lgbtq-bills-what-changed/

Iowa Republicans have introduced more than 30 bills targeting the LGBTQ community, roughly double the previous #ialegis record.

Some proposals that went nowhere as recently as 2021 are on a fast track now. Thoughts on why this is happening:

https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/03/01/iowa-republicans-didnt-always-push-anti-lgbtq-bills-what-changed/

Now Iowa wants to ban margarine from schools?  Let me be clear. With all the real problems Iowa has right now, and with them gutting funding for public schools- now this.The unhoused population in Des Moines public schools is far more important than butter vs. margarine, or attacking LGBTQ, or banning books or vouchers for private schools. Nothing Iowa is doing is important except making Iowa a theocracy and driving people away from this hate filled state. #iowa #iowaGOP #ialegis​

"You're going to leave a whole minority group of Iowans behind"

Blind Iowans showed up in large numbers at the capitol Monday to tell lawmakers that allowing Governor Kim Reynolds to hire and fire the Department for the Blind's director would adversely affect the community. #iagov #ialegis #disabilities

https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/02/13/blind-iowans-denounce-governors-plan-for-state-agency/

"Iowa would leap from last to best in the nation at preventing frivolous lawsuits from threatening free speech," if a bill House members approved Thursday becomes law. #ialegis #FirstAmendment #media #freespeech
https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/02/09/iowa-house-votes-to-protect-speech-from-frivolous-lawsuits/

New post: Governor Kim Reynolds is one step closer to controlling a majority of votes on all of Iowa's judicial nominating commissions.

My report on the bill and yesterday's Iowa Senate debate: #ialegis #iagov #iacourts

https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/02/09/iowa-senate-votes-to-increase-governors-influence-over-courts/

I'm heartsick over the flood of bills across the country attacking #trans #children, including here in Iowa. Your state representative needs to hear from you that this is not okay, especially if they are from the party that is pushing these bills so aggressively.

Here’s a bit of what I sent to the #ialegis subcommittee last week:

I know plenty of transgender and nonbinary adults who struggled to grow up with parents who actively rejected their gender identities. They knew as children that it was not safe to come out to their parents. Many of them credit their survival to teachers, pastors, or other trusted adults who were willing to affirm them and proved that they were safe with such personal information. I am committed to making such a safe space in my home and in my church as a pastor.

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New post by Dan Henderson: Governor Kim Reynolds and her MAGA Republican colleagues in the statehouse are taking a wrecking ball to public education. What some of their priority bills would do to Iowa's K-12 schools or state universities: #ialegis #edu
https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/02/05/iowa-republicans-take-a-wrecking-ball-to-education/

New post: Rick Morain dissects the Iowa House bill targeting people on food assistance and Medicaid #ialegis #hunger https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/01/31/wrong-headed-bill-on-food-assistance-raises-questions/

Audio from last night's "Capitol Week" on KHOI radio: https://khoifm.org/sites/khoifm.org/files/TALK%20PROGRAMS/Capitol%20Week/2023_01_23_CW_WEB.mp3
Recap of topics Dennis Hart and I covered (we did get to some other news besides the #ialegis debate on school vouchers): https://laurabelin.substack.com/p/vouchers-vouchers-and-more

New post: Nine Republicans in the Iowa House and three in Senate joined Democrats to vote against Governor Kim Reynolds' school voucher bill.

I looked at who they are, how long they've served in #ialegis, and whether there are private schools in their districts. https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/01/24/the-twelve-iowa-republicans-who-voted-against-school-vouchers/

RT @KarenNicholsIA@twitter.com

.@IAGovernor@twitter.com Private schools can’t absorb all half million of Iowa’s public school students. What about the kids that private schools reject, who are left behind in defunded public schools? That’s not equity. #novouchers #ialegis

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/KarenNicholsIA/status/1617554812299771904