Iowa
Bill expanding Iowa’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law takes another step forward
How to engage with Iowa lawmakers for the 2026 legislative session
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A bill prohibiting Iowa’s public K-12 schools from teaching students about LGBTQ-related topics at all grade levels is advancing in the House and Senate as GOP lawmakers consider expanding what critics call the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The measure would subject all of Iowa’s K-12 students to a law Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in 2023 that bans instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation through sixth grade. The wide-ranging education legislation also ordered schools to remove books that depict sex acts and remains tied up in court.
The House Education Committee voted 14-9, to advance House File 2121, which would extend the prohibition on LGBTQ-related teaching through high school. Two Republicans, Reps. Chad Ingels, R-Randalia, and Tom Moore, R-Griswold, joined Democrats in voting no.
It advanced out of subcommittee in a 2-1 vote earlier Wednesday morning.
Rep. Helena Hayes, R-New Sharon, said the measure pushes educators to stick to core curriculum such as language, English, math and history. She voted with Rep. Wendy Larson, R-Odebolt, to move it forward.
“This very narrow bill, it simply says teachers, please focus on educational topics,” Hayes said. “Please talk about academics, and that’s what we’re asking our educators to do, and that’s as simple as it is. Stay focused on the topic at hand, and that is we want to graduate intelligent, articulate, critical thinkers in this world.”
Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City, who opposed the bill, questioned why lawmakers would further legislate something that’s already tied up in court and how it helps Iowans afford their daily living costs.
“I am myself queer,” Levin said. “I have been since I was born. It is part of my existence. I experienced no great trauma or abuse growing up. In fact, I grew up in an incredibly healthy and happy family with no direct queer role models. … To pretend that queer people do not exist is neither remarkable nor wise in thinking about how we care for our kids.”
Republicans on a three-member Senate subcommittee advanced their proposal, Senate Study Bill 2003, on Jan. 21. Similar legislation has not advanced in past years, including in 2025 after a House proposal stalled once it passed out of subcommittee. There was no Senate companion bill in 2025.
The bill says that Iowa’s public school districts and charter schools cannot provide “any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion or instruction relating to gender theory or sexual orientation” to K-12 students.
GOP lawmaker pushes to allow discussion of gender as a ‘theory’
Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, who serves on the House Education Committee, proposed amending the bill and said it may be “fairly appropriate” to discuss gender identity as a theory.
He said there are many legal questions or works of art pertaining to trans people that high school students would be mature enough to debate in a classroom setting.
“I think there’s a lot of things that could sink your teeth into if gender theory is just debated as a theory in the classroom,” Shipley said.
Hayes said the committee would consider amendments but this was already “narrowly tailored to instructional time.”
“A lot of those conversations still happen in other places and school grounds or outside of school grounds,” Hayes told reporters. “I mean, certainly people should have connections and networking beyond just their teaching and beyond just the classroom.”
Existing law still tied up in court
Iowa’s 2023 law, Senate File 496, is being challenged as unconstitutional in a federal lawsuit.
A federal judge initially granted an injunction blocking parts of the law, including the ban on teaching about gender orientation and sexual identity, while the lawsuit is decided.
But the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his decision, allowing the law to take effect. Attorneys argued the law’s constitutionality in federal court in January.
Iowa is one of several Republican-led states, including Florida, with similar prohibitions on classroom teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation.
Levin said it would be unwise to extend Iowa’s law while the state’s current court challenges are pending.
“I genuinely can’t think of a reason why we would move forward with this when the previous legislation is tied up in the courts,” she said.
Opponents say sexual orientation, gender identity are ‘immutable’ traits
Like in the Senate’s initial hearing, opponents of the bill outnumbered supporters as people warned lawmakers of the detrimental effects the legislation would have on LGBTQ youth.
Annie Craven, of Urbandale, said she is openly bisexual and was homeschooled and raised Catholic so she didn’t know people with her sexual orientation existed growing up. Craven is running for the Iowa House District 46 seat held by incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Gehlbach.
“That didn’t make me any less queer,” Craven said. “It did make me feel very alone and isolated and different. I resent that gender identity is being touted as political or something that we can debate or theorize. It’s immutable. It caused great harm to me as a person and as a kid growing up to not know that there were other people like me and to think that I was so different and I didn’t understand why.”
Drake University law student Karrecia Crawley said the bill imposes a “sweeping ideology that rushes to conclusions about what is taught.”
“They don’t see the foresight of what happens or what occurs when this bill is passed,” Crawley said. “I don’t believe Republicans will be in power for all that much longer if bills like this keep getting pushed and introduced into the (Legislature).”
Rev. Lizzie Gillman, an Episcopal priest in Des Moines and mother of a high school and sixth grade student, shared with lawmakers that her children’s friends feel they have no adults with whom they can discuss LGBTQ topics after recent law changes targeting LGBTQ rights.
“Jesus never said anything about gender or homosexuality,” Gillman said. “Jesus was all about love. And so what I want to know is that when we marginalize these students at a young age, they can pick it up. … I’d like you to understand whose dignity matters here.”
Supporters asks lawmakers to restore ‘focus’ on academics
Jeff Pitts, with the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, supported the bill.
“Political indoctrination ought not to be done on the taxpayer dime at public institutions,” Pitts said.
Katherine Bogaards, with Protect My Innocence, supported the measure and said it “gives families confidence that schools will remain focused on academics and age appropriate research-based health education, not topics that confuse or overwhelm the students.”
“Supporting this bill is about preserving family values, respecting parental authority, and assuring minors are allowed to grow up without unnecessary pressure related to sexual orientation and gender identity,” Bogaards said.
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Forty Iowa lawmakers, including Iowa House Majority Leader Bobby Kaufmann, are urging federal regulators to reject a request from utility companies that would temporarily halt competition for major electric transmission projects.
In a letter sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, lawmakers asked regulators to deny a complaint filed by utilities seeking a moratorium on transmission competition, arguing the move would increase electricity costs for consumers and reduce market competition.
The complaint, filed in April by incumbent utilities against regional grid operators Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, and Southwest Power Pool, seeks to pause competitive bidding for transmission projects across multiple states.
Supporters of competition argue the change would effectively allow utilities to receive no-bid control over billions of dollars in future transmission projects tied to growing electricity demand, including from data centers.
The lawmakers wrote that Iowa has repeatedly rejected anti-competitive legislation in recent years and pointed to President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at reducing regulatory barriers for new market participants.
“The utility complaint is tone deaf to the electricity affordability crisis facing Americans,” Paul Cicio, chair of the Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition, said in a statement. “Suspending competition in MISO and SPP would expose consumers in these regions to billions in unchecked cost escalation for years, guaranteeing higher utility bills.”
Utilities that filed the complaint include ITC Midwest, Ameren Services, Xcel Energy and several other regional electric providers.
The coalition opposing the complaint argues competitive bidding has historically lowered costs for transmission projects in MISO and SPP regions, while utilities say changes are needed to speed project development amid growing energy demand.
The dispute comes as energy providers face increasing pressure to expand electric infrastructure to meet demand from large-scale developments, including data centers.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Cedar Rapids Fire Department responded to a fire at a garage Wednesday evening.
Crews responded to the 1200 block of Wright Brothers Boulevard SW at 6:23 P.M.
The department says they spotted heavy black smoke prior to arrival, and found an attached garage fully involved with fire.
Crews managed to put out the fire and confirmed that everyone was outside of the house, as well as extinguished a hidden fire in the attic and concealed spaces inside the home.
The garage suffered heavy fire damage while the rest of the home had minor damage.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa
Iowa State AD says he doesn’t care if SEC, Big Ten leave other P4 Conferences behind: ‘Let them break away’
The future of college football continues to be in flux, as schools and conferences wrestle with how to make more money.
Conference realignment exploded because schools like USC and UCLA were falling well behind, financially, relative to peers in the Big Ten or SEC. College Football Playoff expansion continues to be a topic of discussion, led in part by those two conferences, as administrators believe there’s more money to be made by adding more games and teams to the mix.
But another point of discussion in college football is even larger and more structural: the point of the NCAA and current configuration.
Big Ten Conference Commissioner Tony Petitti speaks during the 2025 Big Ten Football Media Days at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev., on July 22, 2025. (Louis Grasse/Getty Images)
Some have speculated that the Power Four conferences should leave the NCAA entirely, form their own breakaway league that’s organized differently than the existing format. Notable personalities like Kirk Herbstreit spoke about that earlier in 2026, saying that name, image and likeness (NIL) and other issues could be fixed if there’s a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between conferences and players in a new entity.
INSIDE THE FIGHT: NIL ARMS RACE FUELING NEW PUSH FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF EXPANSION
“I think the Power Four needs to break away,” he said in an interview with Front Office Sports. “Create their own world, create their own governing body. Allow the Group of Four to create their own world. Allow them to have their own playoff. Much like FCS and Division II and III. Just create a new level, which would be the Power Four. Let’s create a new governing body, let’s put a commissioner. If we need to unionize the players, to allow them to create a CBA to avoid the antitrust laws, make the rules, come to an agreement like the NFL does on both sides.”
Then there are proposals that the Big Ten and SEC, as the two most successful conferences, should set up their own arrangement. And one athletic director at a major Big 12 program, surprisingly, seems to think they should.
Jamie Pollard of the Iowa State Cyclones stands on the sidelines before a game against the Baylor Bears at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa, on Oct. 5, 2024. The Cyclones won 43-21. (Luke Lu/Diamond Images)
“Let them break away. We should break away from them,” said Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard to reporters this week, per Brett McMurphy. “Let them go, but they have to go in all their sports and see how fun it is to play baseball, softball and track when it’s just the 20 of you. That’s what I think we should do, but I’m one person & that’s probably a little more draconian.
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“That’s how I feel about it. Like, let’s quit talking about it. Quit threatening. Go do it. But if you’re going to do it, you don’t get to just do it in football and then keep all your other sports with us. No, take them all. See how fun it is.”
Sounds like relations between the two dominant superconferences and the rest of the P4 are in a great spot.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey speaks with the media during SEC Media Days at the Grand Bohemian Hotel. (Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images)
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Pollard is right, directionally, in that the Big Ten and SEC “need” the other conferences. But it’s also short sighted to act as though the Big 12 doesn’t need them too. There’s logic to all sides of the argument; the Big Ten and SEC provide the most value to college athletics, but there is value from Big 12 and ACC programs too. And with everyone grasping for a large slice of the pie, there’s bound to be disagreement over how best to distribute money or make more of it.
It would be stunning if the Big Ten and SEC broke away entirely. But it seems increasingly likely that Power Four does break away from the NCAA. It’s only a matter of time.
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