Meeting Public Comments

Subcommittee meeting and times are as follows:

A bill for an act prohibiting school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools from providing any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion, or instruction relating to gender identity or sexual orientation to students in grades seven through twelve.

Subcommittee members: Wheeler-CH, Levin, Stone

Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Time: 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM

Location: RM 103

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

Comments Submitted:

02-11-2025

Elizabeth Klaus

This bill is yet another attempt by the Iowa legislature to try and legislate LGBTQ+ individuals out of existence, a futile and pointless effort. Regardless of whether they like it or not, LGBTQ+ people have existed and will continue to exist in our families and communities, and there's simply nothing they can do about that try as they may. LGBTQ+ students and their families deserve to be represented in their education just as other children do. They deserve access to education that contributes to their growth, safety, and success.

02-11-2025

Benjamin Claes [- Select -]

I strongly oppose HSB 84. This proposed legislation is ridiculous. How are middle and high school students supposed to learn history, art, government, literature, biology or any other nonmath subject if they cant mention gender identity or sexual orientation? Education on womens suffrage would be gone. Learning about the civil rights movement would be gone. Henry the 8th and HIS WIVES would be gone. Not to mention the public health ramifications from sending a generation of young adults out into the world without proper sex and reproductive education. The legislators in this state supposedly hate abortion, yet they REFUSE to allow teens the education needed to prevent pregnancy. In your attempts to erase LGBTQ people from history you are making it impossible to learn about the history of straight people. Gender identity and sexual orientation cut both ways, they dont just apply to LGBTQ folks. Will students be allowed to learn that John Quincy Adams was the son of John and Abigail Adams? That question alone covers both gender identity and sexual orientation. Will Martha Washington be removed from the history books because her primary tie to the founding of this country was her STRAIGHT MARRIAGE to a selfidentified MAN? This bill is a terrible idea and an obvious attempt to avoid teaching the history of queer people and everyone knows it.Stop trying to erase LGBTQ figures from history. They exist and every student in Iowa will grow up to interact with them some day. Why are we refusing to allow students to learn about the world around them? QUEER PEOPLE HAVE FULL RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW, WHY SHOULDN'T STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT THEM? Whats next? Erasing disabled people from history? Erasing nonwhite people? These are all groups that have FULL RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW. This proposed legislation is ridiculous and makes Iowa look like a regressive, backward state that cares more about conservative ideology than actually preparing Iowa's students for the real world. We already have problems retaining education and health workers, specifically due to this legislative bodys regressive actions. Stop this antiLGBTQ legislation and actually make the lives of Iowans better.

02-11-2025

Alissa Philipp

I urge you to not allow HSB 84 out of subcommittee. Queer people have always existed and their achievements deserve to be represented in all areas of education. More so, children in middle and high school deserve accurate sexual education that will protect them and keep them safe. Ignoring queer relationships in health and sexual education classes will only lead queer teens to engage in risky sexual practices.

02-11-2025

Catherine george

Vote no on this bill, please. The bill discriminates against lgbtq folks. In addition the scope of whats included is so broad that I dont understand how it could possibly be followed. It would put schools and educators at unnecessary risk for violating a rule that is pretty well impossible to follow.

02-11-2025

Dave Philipp

I strongly oppose HSB84. This creating a very slippery slope with regards to erasing history. Whats next? NonChristians? Nonwhites? Physical or mental disabled individuals? All of these categories are PROTECTED UNDER FEDERAL AND IOWA LAW, including the LGBTQ+ individuals in this legislative body continues to hate upon. Stop bullying people just because they dont live the EXACT same life as you. Instead, how about we work on funding the public school system to provide the education our kids need, including sexual and reproductive education which requires gender identity and sexual orientation (Straight or Queer).

02-11-2025

Allison Seamans

This bill serves as problematic toward the public as not only is it erasing the LGBTQ community but it also removes any chance in schools to have productive conversations about the ideology itself. It is an erasure of identity that people have no control over.

02-11-2025

stella armstrong

i urge the subcommittee to vote NO on HSB 84. this is a horrendous expansion of an already awful bill. its blatant censorship and a waste of time to even be discussing it. we have real problems in this state, and all our elected officials want to do is harass and censor marginalized people.

02-11-2025

Jonathan Huber

I oppose House Study Bill 84 because it restricts important discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. These topics are crucial for understanding, acceptance, and support among students. By prohibiting this education, the bill limits students' ability to learn about and respect diverse perspectives, which is essential for creating an inclusive and safe school environment.

02-11-2025

Lyle Thomas

Hello,I am a proud resident of Iowa City! I am ashamed a bill like this is on the table in my state. This is cruel to children to take away their opportunity to learn about the multitude of ways people can be and have knowledge to have agency over their own bodies. Middle school and high school sex education classes are an important space for young adults to receive knowledgeable and science based information so that they can take care of themselves through our life. Removing content on gender identity and sexual orientation leaves children in the dark. I am opposed to this bill and encourage the subcommittee to not put this bill forward. It harms children. Thank you,Lyle Thomas

02-11-2025

Kristen Snavely

Please vote no on HSB 84, it is impractical, illogical and hateful. You cannot erase the full spectrum and variety of human beings who you dont understand or agree with, and I, along with so many Iowans, do not want to live in the backwards repressive society trying to be pushed through the creation of many antilgbtq bills in this legislature.

02-11-2025

Amy Murphy

Please do not pass this bill my child was in a bad way and thank goodness for the teachers that made her feel safe when she let them know she was part of lgbtq community. Its been a long hard road to keep her alive and I am thankful everyday to those teachers that cared for my kid and that they were a safe place for her. I am also a teacher and have been there for many kids who need someone to talk to and a safe space. If you feel the need to pass this bill you should have to spend a week in the school system to understand how scared these kids are. Its easy when you can pass judgement from your chair but you have no idea what its like caring for kids. You are ok with us standing in front of a bullet for them but not to be someone to talk to.

02-11-2025

Courtney Collier

Please pass HSB84 to protect our children from the ideologies of gender identity and sexual orientation being taught or promoted in Iowa schools. Our students need to be educated with academic rigor to be career ready and competitive in the workplace. We must reject the dumbing down of our students with the Marxist agenda of focusing on feelings and woke ideologyies. The ideological instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity should have NO place in Iowa school classrooms or anywhere else in the schools. Make education great again get back to the basics.

02-11-2025

Elizabeth Arnold

I am vehemently opposed to this bill. Teenage students deserve safe spaces to learn and express themselves. There is no need to make their experience more difficult or oppressively shame them. They deserve a fair education that includes accurate information

02-11-2025

Emma Denney

I OPPOSE HSB 84. This bill is fundamentally about erasing LGBTQ people in Iowa education, and is part of a singular ideological hatred of transgender people that seems to have gripped this legislature in recent years. 10% of the US population, and 28% of my generation, are LGBTQ, and this bill suggests that Iowa students should learn nothing about the history, experiences, and lives of those people. what do Representative Wheeler and the Education Committee, who sponsored this bill, believe will happen to students who learn about gay or trans people? does this committee believe that homosexuality is contagious? or maybe that just reading about trans people will "make" kids trans? All that happens when students learn about the people and world around them is that their understanding of themselves, those people, and that world deepens, to the benefit of everybody. What is the purpose of education if not to help kids grow into knowledgable, wellrounded, thoughtful, and compassionate people?the real reason is that the Education Committee, as it has displayed many times in recent years, has put a target on trans and LGBTQ kids broadly. This committee and legislature have decided that they want these kids to be scared, isolated, and ultimately pushed back into the closet or worse, and removing education about their lives and their history is simply one part of that broader attack.Further, the constitutionality of the underlying law that HSB 84 adds to is still under scrutiny. Pushing further down this road could lead to costly and embarrassing lawsuits for the state.Please note NO on HSB 84 and let this bill fall in subcommittee, stand up to hate and stand for common sense education.

02-11-2025

Kory F

In the beginning God created man and woman. It is time to get back to reality and remove the gender ideologies from schools and the Iowa Civil rights. Should have never been added to begin with. I support this bill,please pass for the Lord Almighty. God Bless.

02-11-2025

Noah Petersen

I strongly to oppose you to vote no on this bill. No matter how hard you to try to erase queer people, they will still exist like that always have and will. You can not wipe away history with your legislation, so please stop trying.

02-11-2025

John Bisenius

Do not let this bill out of subcommittee; in my experience there is no indoctrination or conspiracy other than being able to acknowledge everyones differences. This bill legislates hate and me vs. you mentality. This hate and legislated culture war needs to stop.

02-11-2025

Taylor Gruszka

I am adamantly opposed to this bill, and I would encourage the subcommittee to dismiss it. This bill does nothing but encourage hatred and disinformation about an already marginalized group. If passed, this bill would leave our youths worse off, and they would have less knowledge of the world in which they are a part

02-11-2025

Matthew Cabel

I strongly oppose this bill. LGBTQ+ students and families exist now and always will in the future. Its crucial for students to have an understanding of sexuality at this maturity level. This would be yet another example of Iowa lawmakers purposefully worsening education in the state by trying to pretend that an entire class of people do not exist. I urge you all to not support this bill advancing from subcommittee and instead focus on issues that would actually improve our state for its citizens instead of trying to pretend that members of the LGBTQ+ community dont have the same rights as everyone else. Listen to your constituents. We do not support this bill.

02-11-2025

Hayley Carter

I strongly SUPPORT this bill. Schools need to focus on core academics rather than promoting discussions/teachings on gender identity/sexual orientation. That is a conversation for parents to have with their children and it is beyond inappropriate for the classroom.

02-11-2025

Erin Wickering

Hello. My name is Wren. I am an artist, writer, parent, and trans person who has lived in Des Moines for 20 years. I am writing to insist that you NOT advance this bill out of subcommittee. Since the christian nationalists running our government profess to care so much about what the Bible says, lets take a look at a couple of verses.Isaiah 56:35 says this: Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, The Lord will surely separate me from his people; and do not let the eunuch say, I am just a dry tree. For thus says the Lord: I will give, in my house, and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name.In case you didnt know, eunuchs were gendernonconforming people of that time. Because we have always been here and we will always be here. In Matthew 19:12, Jesus himself says: There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made so by others, and there are some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.You are trying to hate us out of existence, but the joke is on you, because we love ourselves more than you will ever hate us. And love is an unstoppable force.Jesus also said that Gods greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Might I suggest that you use your taxpayersubsidized health care to go to therapy and learn to stop taking out your selfhatred on the rest of us.

02-11-2025

Amy Passaro

I strongly oppose this bill. I fail to see one legitimate reason for its introduction to this subcommittee. This signifies yet another step backwards for Iowans and will put more students, particularly vulnerable students, unnecessarily harms way. I beg you to use your time more wisely.

02-11-2025

Rick Phillips [PELLA PAC]

We support advancing HSB84. This bill completes the removal of DEI indoctrination in Jr. and Sr. high school grades that has contributed to a sharp rise in mental illnesses and violence in young minds. Passing HSB84 will in a few years show a decline in mental illnesses and confusion caused by DEI. This reversal will produce younger children with healthier minds. We encourage the removal of gender identity and sexual orientation from every vestige of education, but specifically as a civil right.

02-11-2025

McKennah Wiggins

As parents of four children in public school, my wife and I are deeply invested in our community. We volunteer, participate in local events, and are active in our church. Like all families, we want our children to feel safe, valued, and represented in their school environment.This bill seeks to erase the existence of LGBTQ+ individuals from the curriculum, but it cannot erase the reality that these individualsincluding students, parents, and teachersare part of our communities. Our children deserve to learn in a school that acknowledges and respects all families, including ours. Attempts to suppress discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation will not change the fact that LGBTQ+ people existit will only foster ignorance and harm.Public schools should be places of learning, understanding, and inclusion, not exclusion. I strongly oppose HSB 84 and urge lawmakers to prioritize policies that support all students and families rather than erasing them from the conversation.

02-11-2025

Danetta Dobre

I strongly oppose this bill and ask you to vote against it. Trying to erase entire populations of students by not surveying the student body about their identity, or providing any sort of instruction, programs, support, etc, does not actually make our schools safer or more appropriate for our children. Transgender, queer, and questioning students, much like ALL of our students, deserve representation and respect. Keep in mind that the easiest way to sweep under the rug the bullying and mistreatment of LGBTQ students is to not listen to or collect any data about them whatsoever. It makes me sick to my stomach that some of our legislators are so hateful that they would propose a bill which so blatantly targets CHILDREN by taking away their voice and then claim that its for their own good. The prohibition of K6 was a failure on the legislatures part in the first place. Extending it all the way through 12th grade is a deep betrayal of our duty to raise up our kids so they can find their own voice and identity in safety, love, and acceptance. I have been so blessed to have had that love and support from my teachers growing up. Students deserve MORE representation in their education, NOT LESS. I strongly oppose this bill, please vote No.

02-11-2025

Paige Wiggins

I categorically oppose HSB 84. This bill is a disgraceful attempt to erase LGBTQ+ people from the classroom, forcing a statesanctioned lie onto students. It is nothing more than an authoritarian effort to dictate what children are allowed to learn, warping education to fit a narrow, exclusionary ideology. My children have two moms, and this legislation would deliberately rob them of the right to see their family reflected in their educationwhile other children are freely allowed to see theirs. This is statesponsored discrimination, plain and simple.Lets be clear: you cannot erase history, identity, or reality. Banning discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation means gutting entire sections of history, literature, social movements, and civil rights progress. Would students no longer learn about the Stonewall Riots, the persecution of LGBTQ+ people during the Holocaust, or the Supreme Court cases that recognized our basic rights? Will teachers be forced to lie about historical figures, censor classic literature, or omit entire aspects of government and law? This is intellectual dishonesty at its most insidious.Moreover, the idea that silence equals protection is a blatant falsehood. Study after study confirms that LGBTQ+ youth who see themselves represented in their education have better mental health outcomes, lower suicide rates, and higher academic achievement. This bill does not protect studentsit deliberately harms them. It fosters ignorance, shame, and discrimination, all under the guise of governance.LGBTQ+ people have always existed, and we will continue to exist. We refuse to be erased. If you support this bill, you are on the wrong side of historyalongside those who tried to silence the civil rights movement, deny women the right to vote, and suppress every other fight for equality. Reject this cowardly, regressive attempt at censorship, or be remembered as those who chose bigotry over truth.

02-12-2025

Sara Montero-Elliott

I oppose this bill because it's going to kill people. The right diagnosis and treatment at the right time can mean the difference between life and death. Any political intervention in that process will negatively affect patients. It will particularly affect patients with politically sensitive medical situations (like ectopic pregnancies or being a transsexual), and make their treatment optional. This is discriminatory. For a patient, its also lost time, lost money, lost confidence. I have waited MONTHS to be seen by healthcare professionals some clinics Ive had to call every day for the chance to set up an appointment. Appointments are so hard to get and I want them to be worth something. I want to trust that healthcare workers know what they are doing and are doing everything they can to help me, to the best of their ability. I havent been to med school. I want to trust their judgment. This bill erodes that trust. If Im at an appointment and a doctor is refusing me a certain treatment, I will have to stop and think is it because theyre more knowledgable than I am about medicine and genuinely believe its not the right treatment? Or is it because their religious beliefs or moral compunctions or entirely personal whathaveyou compels them to give me substandard care? Im visibly trans and take hormones, which Im open about with the healthcare providers I see do they have a political or religious opposition to what Im doing with my own body and are they denying me this treatment because they think my transition is involved somehow and they dont want to accommodate for that? Or are they denying the treatment because they just think my body is icky and they don't want to deal with it? Exhausting.Like I said before, I dont get a lot of chances to see medical professionals, because its very expensive, and because setting up an appointment takes so long. So if youll pardon the wording, I dont give a damn how the doctor or nurse feels about my treatment. I get one chance in months to see them and I want that to pay off. And I want there to be some consequences if somebodys religion or conscience makes them a crappy doctor. If there really exist healthcare professionals so preoccupied with the ETHICS OF HEALING (???) they can quit and become faith healers or open their own special clinics I dont have to go to.

02-12-2025

Sara Montero-Elliott

(Please disregard my last comment that was about SF 220. My mistake. This is my real comment on HSB 84:)I oppose HSB 84. Gender and sexuality may be uncomfortable topics for some people to talk about, but it is not dangerous. The idea that it is, is itself an ideology a particularly authoritarian and pernicious one. Everybody experiences gender and sexuality in a lot of different ways. Its not deep, its just how people are built. Young people deserve to see that reality reflected in the curriculum. Acknowledging that LGBT people exist refusing to erase them, teaching their histories doesnt take anything away from reading writing and arithmetic, or any other educational endeavor. Gay and trans young people arent going anywhere and will always be around. The only thing thats being affected here is whether their existence the existence of anyone who isnt straight or cis can legally be recognized and acknowledged in Iowa schools, or whether their schools will pressure them back into the closet or worse. All our kids deserve better than this.

02-12-2025

Izzy Kippes

In addition, I STRONGLY OPPOSE this bill. Please look at the vast majority of these comments in opposition citing stories of how their friends and family have been and will be harmed by this, then compare them to the few comments in support spouting talking points without any examples.

02-12-2025

Sharon Falduto

This is so blatantly discriminatory and obviously trolling of anyone not straight. Please stop making Iowa bigoted. Children of ages 1218 can be gay and deserve that they know they belong.Also, any teacher who gets married and changes their last name could e guilty of "teaching gender orientation." You just don't think about heterosexual gender orientation when you introduce these bills because you're blinded by hate.

02-12-2025

Tracie Kennedy

Our schools should be a place for academic excellence, not ideological agendas that confuse and harm our children. HSB 84 ensures that parents, not schools, guide their children in understanding personal and moral beliefs about gender and sexuality. Lets stand together to protect truth, preserve parental rights, and keep our classrooms focused on real education. Our kids are counting on us!

02-12-2025

Tiffany Beavers

Full support of this bill. Since the beginning of time there have been two genders. Assumptions of anything different is playing in to the mental downfall of our youth. gender/sex are male and female. Your sexuality or identity are different things and can change. I support there only being two genders as that is the hard facts.

02-12-2025

L Curtis

I oppose this bill. It would be harmful to the education system and its students. It would exclude entire pieces of the lives of historical figures lives from being taught about, which isn't a full education. Aside from negatively affecting LGBTQ+ people, it would also harm women.

02-12-2025

T S

I urge your support of this bill. There is no reason schools should be addressing these subjects with students. That is the job of each family. Just because they don't have curriculum with this does not mean students will think LGBTQ people "don't exist" or are being "erased."

02-12-2025

juliasanderson19897@gmail.com Anderson

There are only two genders. Stop the insanity and our tax payer funding going to harm vulnerable confused kids, not to mention pornography in our schools and public libraries! Anyone pushing this needs to be investigated and possibly charged with pimping and pandering! Charge them with contribution to the delinquency of minors. People promoting this are destroying young people's lives and destroying our future and our State!

02-12-2025

Angela Wenell

I am in favor of HSB84. Education needs to refocus back to academics and has no business asking or exploring the sexual preferences of minors. The idea that gender ideology needs to be taught in the classroom in order for students to be kind is a farce. In fact, the message should be we can treat each other with respect in spite of our differences. We need to stop politicizing the classroom and get back to academic rigor and college and career readiness. Please advance this bill.

02-12-2025

Jessica Chrystal

As a proud Mom of a gay kid who works in education and still helps our GSA kids meet despite every attempt by religious extremists in the legislature to dismantle their group,I'm fiercely opposed to this stupid bill! Unlike what Skyler Wheeler claimed on election day,he doesn't serve in the legislature with a mandate from his invisible skydaddy to wipe out evil and Democrats in the "love of Jesus ".Keep your garbage religious belifes out of public policy and government. If your religious extremism mandates you use the law to prosecute and silence the free speech & expression of the LBGTQ + community in the public spaces they live & work you need to find a new religion.That's what this bill is really about.Religious extremists forcing Christian nationalism upon the rest of us.We all know they won't stop with schools, curriculum & libraries with the bills they've tried to pass the last session and are planning to retry during this one. Those of us in public schools know that no such unit and mandated curriculum exist. No one is being indoctrinated to be gay,lesbian or trans. Everyone goes through rigours background checks so the disgusting "groomer" rhetoric can stop. Are students constantly reminded to be on time for class & be prepared? Absolutely But god forbid a kid read a random book with a gay character and walk away with some empathy. The bigots for Liberty lose their minds with the Family Leader. They're the ones who are pushing this bill behind the scenes with the same 5 actors they rotate in and out of subcommittee. Why? The majority of Iowans didn't ask for these kind of bills and stupid culture wars with their votes. Ive never seen a bunch of adults wasting so much time and disrespecting the office they hold, by being obsessed with names,prounouns,books,curriculum that doesnt exist and whats in someones pants like a bunch of creepy weridos.How does this help lower the cost of living for families and the price of eggs? It doesn't!The larger goal is get this passed and to wipe LBGTQ+ kids & families out of existence by stripping away their dignity,humanity & civil rights & any real represention in this state. There's other governing bodies in foreign countries some could go serve in that already do these things that more closely align with their anti american beliefs & demented religious theology.

02-12-2025

Cheryl Burt

Please vote NO!!! Why would you punish a certain segment of our school population? We have students who are gay and/or live in a same gender family. They too should have a safe place at school and should be supported like any other student. Teachers dont promote this issue, but should be allowed to have discussions with students when appropriate. Do not further discriminate against this population!

02-12-2025

A Fischer

Iowas schools need to stay in their lane. When it comes to the discussion of gender or sexual orientation, this is a matter that needs to be addressed by parents, a pastor, or a counselor, NOT Iowas teachers. This bill does not condone hate or the removal of LGBTQ rightsthey share the same constitutional rights as everyone else.Please pass this common sense bill.

02-12-2025

Mandy Gilbert

I am in support of this bill. Not once in my public education was someone's sexuality or gender identity discussed in any subjects from Kcollege. Why is this now integrated in all education? Did science change in the past 20 years on what is male and female? The answer is no. This is an ideology not science based and placing focus and conversation around sexuality in the classroom that is not appropriate. Conversations around sex used to be reserved for parent permission to even be discussed in school. Now flags are found in every classroom promoting sex identity. Families from various religious backgrounds should be able to have their children attend public schools without this push against their values around sexuality. Stick to teaching the universal basics.

02-12-2025

Amy Keller

It is unfortunate that our sister state is spending time and taxpayer dollars on a bill that will only ultimately marginalize a small group of children. Recognizing that life and growing up is complicated, sometimes kids who feel different just want to be called a different name or pronoun. So what? If it makes that kid feel slightly better, if it makes that kid feel less depressed, if it prevents that kid from getting bullied orworsecommitting suicide, then why on earth would any of us prevent children from learning that it is okay to be their full and complete selves?Let it be known: for families who feel powerless in the face of debates like this one, please bring your talents and tax dollars across the border to Illinois, where your children will be protected.

02-12-2025

Evelyn Nikkel [PELLA PAC]

Praise God you are getting education back to education and not mired in some imaginary dysphoria realms of fiction. Teach the kids the basics of education without muddying it up with mentally madeup feelings. Iowa's scores keep dropping and kids aren't proficient in the necessary areas to be truly successful in the real world of two genders. Yes, keep the focus on the real and not the make believe. All the "victims" bellyache, but they know they have ALL the same rights as all other Iowans. What this does is take away any preferential focus on the imaginary. Thank you!! Absolutely in favor of passing what over 97% of Iowans already have and taking out the fake focus of the less than 3%. Absolutely in favor of this with penalties to teachers and administrations which try to still sneak this fakery into the curriculum.

02-12-2025

Patrick Anderson

This is a good bill. Please pass it as schools have no business contributing to the delinquency of minors. Pornographic materials have no place in schools and should not be anywhere near minors. Using teachers to model or champion obscenity further reinforces the negative identity that these materials cultivate in young people.

02-12-2025

Susan Corbin-Muir

Banning this discussion harms everyone. Our LGTBQ teens will be alienated and the damage to their mental health. Our teens in general need to understand the issues that their classmates face. These topics are an important part of creating a caring environment in our schools and our society. Discriminating such as this has no place in our schools or in our communities.

02-12-2025

Lyndi Collins

Children dont turn off their humanity when they arrive at school. Relationships are important to learn about, including at school. Many homes dont provide examples of healthy relationships, so if you want them to have longlasting, stable relationships in adulthood, they need to learn it somewhere. Gender identity and sexual orientation are a piece of those conversations.

02-12-2025

Barbara Helmick

People who are trans are not hurting anyone. I have known trans people my whole adult life and each one has been just as regular as can be. Your fears are unfounded and hurtful. Educate yourself please and stop this cruel attack.

02-12-2025

Jill E

I support this bill. Schools need to focus on academics rather than promoting discussions/teachings on gender identity/sexual orientation. That is a conversation for parents to have with their children at home. Completely inappropriate for the classroom.

02-12-2025

Jonathan Chown

This bill, if passed into law, would ensure a culture of silence around gender and sexual orientation. In such a culture, bullying will thrive. One tool that bullies wield against their targets, according to the definition of bullying given on stopbullying.gov, is "access to embarrassing information"and what could be more embarrassing than a nonbinary gender or nonheterosexual orientation in an environment in which "we don't talk about gender and sexual orientation." The biggest mistake an adult can make when they witness bullying is to ignore it (ibid.), and this bill would seemingly require them to in those cases where the bullying centers on gender and orientation.Further, this bill would make students less prepared for an education or career in the humanities. Gender and sexual orientation are fundamental components of the human experience and, as such, are reflected in every branch of cultural expression. Students lacking a basic education in gender and sexual orientation would be disadvantaged in disciplines ranging from literature to dance to anthropology.This bill does not protect students but rather endangers them, and it serves no legitimate educational purpose, unless the goal is Make Ignorance Great Again.

02-12-2025

Dana E.

I attended a private, Christian school from grades K12. Gender identity was something we were never allowed to discuss (with the exception of traditional gender roles). Looking back, I wish we wouldve learned. This censorship silenced the lived experiences of many of my queer and trans friends, and they all suffered greatly because of it. Additionally, as a cisgendered woman and former Christian student, I learned the hard way that many of us suffer from SA, DV, and/or rape at alarming ratesbut I never received teaching or help for that either. With no gender identity/gender based experiences, being taught in my Christian school, my sexual assaults, and the assaults of other girls in heterosexual relationships didnt exist, and barely had any repercussions or resources. I urge you to consider the negative consequences this bill could have, not only on our queer and trans youth who will be impacted most, but also on former students such as myself who suffered greatly from the lack of access and information on gendered violence.

02-12-2025

Robert Nazario

I too am strongly oppose HSB 84. Enough of trying to sexualize our children. God made them male and female and folks can not change their gender or gender identity. We need to stop all efforts within schools that grooms our children and start prosecuting those that continue to try. The only flags that should be displayed in a classroom or at schools must be the US Flag and the Iowa Flag. Period. Queer or Pride LGB... Flags also promote the wrong ideology.

02-12-2025

Jackie Cordon

This is ridiculous in light of what we know about biology. How do we teach about sex chromosomes and expression of those without gender identify coming up. We know you can be XY but appear XX and vice versa. Plus Intersex and things like XXY and XXXY. Or if the Y chromosome doesnt have a functioning SRY gene so you appear female at birth but youre XY. Or if your body suppresses estrogen or overproduces testosterone so youre XX but appear male at birth. Theres so much more science to sex and gender and we cant teach accurately without gender coming up.

02-12-2025

Carrie Pozdol

It is absolutely draconian to prohibit young people who are discovering who they are from learning about inherently human topics of gender identity and sexual orientation. Prohibiting conversations does NOT prevent someone who is gay from being gay. It does not prevent someone who is trans from being trans. It does prevent them from feeling included and safe. Various gender identities and sexual orientations have ALWAYS EXISTED and WILL CONTINUE to exist. I want my children, all children, to live in a world and attend schools where they're identities are acknowledged and accepted.

02-12-2025

Robert Nazario

Mistake in my first post.... we must prohibit school districts....Robert Nazario I too am strongly for this HSB 84. Enough of trying to sexualize our children. God made them male and female and folks can not change their gender or gender identity. We need to stop all efforts within schools that grooms our children and start prosecuting those that continue to try. The only flags that should be displayed in a classroom or at schools must be the US Flag and the Iowa Flag. Period. Queer or Pride LGB... Flags also promote the wrong ideology.

02-12-2025

Joanna Jordan

This is an absolute waste of taxpayer money and is harmful to the people you're trying to target. It's also harmful to people you're not trying to target everyone should be able to talk about how they identify and what that means. Taking this information out of the curriculum doesn't make it go away, no matter how hard you're trying to erase it.Honestly, please spend your time and efforts on fixing the infrastructure, providing clean water, and anything else that might actually make a difference in constituents' lives.This bill doesn't address any real issues facing Iowans today. It's an overreach on free speech and personal identity. Please focus on legislation that serves Iowans in a practical way instead of pushing ideologies that not everyone agrees with.

02-12-2025

Kelly Danilson

I strongly oppose this bill. STOP trying to open the door for cruelty, please!!! Educate yourselves!!! Have you seen the suicide rates for our LGBTQ+, especially transgender loved ones??? Bills like this that intend to harm will make these rates go up. Our LGBTQ+ and transgender loved ones just want to live and belong. Their existence is here to stay. Schools may very well be one of the best places to learn about gender and identity because teachers myself included are able to share content in unbiased ways so that our students are able to decide for themselves and form their own opinions. For those so concerned we are indoctrinating children, READ our curriculum!!! A Texas school board member did just that. You see, she campaigned on the platform that schools in her district were indoctrinating children. When she was elected, she sat and read page after page of curriculum intending to find damning evidence to back her platform. Guess what she found? Nothing. No indoctrination. She realized her whole campaign was based on lies. Or perhaps a better word would be fearmongering? Another thing schools do so well is make informed decisions that best meet the needs of our learners. State leaders, are you doing the same??? Where is your evidence? What data are you using? Again, I implore you to stop this bill and others like it that would hurt our LGBTQ+ and transgender loved ones, who by the way, are also your neighbors. And we know what the Bible says about loving our neighbors.

02-12-2025

Sebastian Braun

If you want to make STDs cool again, there is no better bill than this one. As a parent of two high school students, I am shocked and disturbed by this. And ashamed to live in Iowa, where those elected to take care of the people instead try to keep our children from being educated, mature adults. Seriously. Students need all the education they can get, and you are trying to keep them ignorant? Shame on this bill and anybody who supports it.

02-12-2025

Anna Wolvers

Schools need to teach basic academics. This is how it should have been written all along. Parents are to teach their kids about the birds and bees, not schools.Have you seen our schools ratings in basics of reading, writing, math lately? They're not good at all, because so much focus and attention has been on other things like gender ideology. There are only 2 genders, & that's how it's always been. I support passing this bill.

02-12-2025

Josie Krueger

I strongly oppose HSB 84. This bill is harmful to LGBT youth and wider community. We all live here and this bill further divides communities and fosters misunderstanding and hate. I am a trans parent of a school aged kiddo. I attend school events and have read to my kiddo's class previously. My kiddo also writes about and shares about our diverse family to her class. My kid needs to be allowed to continue to share with her classmates and have the teacher be able to help her answer questions students may have. There is also another parent in our district who has said some pretty harmful things about LGBT people and not wanting them in our schools, parroting language from similar previous legislation and comments in support of said legislation along with the hateful rhetoric. I have to be allowed to participate as my full self in my child's education, just like anyone else. Everyone has a gender identity and sexual orientation. The main characters in Romeo and Juliet or in Twilight express their gender identities and sexual orientations and any discussion of those works would require a discussion or instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation. Would activities like that be excluded? If they were allowed, then you have to allow gender identities and sexual orientations that are not cis or hetero. The law, as written, also goes into the realm of restricting instruction etc. in charter schools and innovation zones. This would violate the religious freedom or right to assembly and association protected in the constitution for those people whose faith, conscience, or practice compels them respect and know a wide range of gender and sexual identities.

02-12-2025

Vero Hernandez

It is beyond vile to try and erase an entire group of people out of the education system. Im commenting my strong opposition to HSB 84, because it is rooted in extreme homophobia and transphobia, and because students deserve to learn history exactly as it has happened. Erasing history out of schools is exactly how rewriting history starts. You cannot erase LGBTQ+ people and you cannot deny their history. It is unbelievable that this bill is even being attempted, you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

02-12-2025

Matt Rollinger

As a prior school board member in a highly contentious district, I have seen firsthand the impact that divisive issues can have on students, parents, and the community at large. This bill takes a crucial step in ensuring that our educational system remains focused on its core missionacademic excellencewithout unnecessary distraction from highly controversial social agendas.The inclusion of programs or curricula that promote gender identity and sexual orientation to students, particularly in grades 7 through 12, goes beyond the role of schools and intrudes on the rights of parents to guide their childrens understanding of such topics. Our schools should be a place where students learn foundational skills and knowledge, not where they are subjected to political ideologies.Additionally, its important to note the disproportionate impact these programs can have on special needs students. Many of these students struggle with complex social and emotional challenges and may have a harder time processing or navigating these controversial topics. Forcing them to engage with such material can create confusion, anxiety, and additional barriers to their learning. This bill helps protect our most vulnerable students, ensuring that they are not subjected to unnecessary stress or confusion, allowing them to focus on their academic and personal growth.Having witnessed the intense division in the community during my time on the school board, I firmly believe this bill is essential to creating a respectful environment where academic success takes precedence, and parents maintain the right to influence their childrens upbringing. I strongly support this bill as a muchneeded move to ensure that schools stay focused on education and not on pushing controversial agendas.

02-12-2025

Ron and Jody Clark-Hovland

The effect of this bill is to make thousands and thousands of children feel like they dont have a right to exist in Iowa. As we look to keep more young families in Iowa. its foolish and cruel to tell them their children dont belong here. Plus its simply immoral to tell them that they are not part of our state.

02-12-2025

Nick Oswald

I strongly oppose this bill. "Shielding" students from LGBTQ+ topics isn't going to stop them from being gay or trans if that's how they were born. As an openly gay public school teacher in Iowa, I will not be going back in the closet any time soon. No law will change that.

02-12-2025

McKenzie Vuichard

Please vote yes for this bill. A child's education in any subject is neither hindered nor enhanced by incorporating gender identity and/or sexual orientation into the curriculum. It is the parent/guardian's role to further educate and discuss with their child topics beyond the basis of biological sexual maturation and STD & pregnancy prevention. Any further promotion of the teachings of sexual orientation and gender identity is vastly inappropriate for the classroom setting, including all propaganda visible on school grounds. This also includes school employee attire.

02-12-2025

Joe Monahan

Sadly, many of us no longer trust our schools to teach these social warrior subjects fairly or honestly. Too many activists in the schools, libraries, etc that want to push their ideologies (essentially grooming) rather than make any attempt to teach an objective reality. It's best if we leave these topics to the families, their religious affiliations and private medical services. They don't belong in schools because too many schools have shown us they can not be trusted.This is also why no Iowa teacher should be getting there PD credits from activist groomers like One Iowa or Iowa Safe Schools. These orgs should not be recipients of tax dollars at all. And they certainly shouldn't be getting paid to indoctrinate teachers.

02-12-2025

Theodore Weiland

Middle school and high school are times where young people are determining who they are in the world and the society they inhabit. By refusing to acknowledge the existence of multiple genders and sexual orientations, students will be at a disadvantage compared to students in other states, leading to prolonged periods of confusion and doubt about who they are in the world at large as they grow into adulthood. The purpose of education is to open the eyes of a student, not veil them from the truth.

02-12-2025

Finch Vandyk

This bill is meanspirited and entirely useless. Children start puberty as early as 9 years old. They feel sexual urges as early as 11. They deserve to learn what's going on with their bodies. This legislation will lead to more teen pregnancy, child abuse that isn't reported because the child never learned what's going on, confusion and misery among Iowas most vulnerable. It is backed by nothing but fear. Do not pass this legislation.

02-12-2025

Kiran Thijm

Your agenda to bully trans kids is pathetic and immoral. Prohibiting queer content in schools will not stop queer kids from existing in the first place. Prohibiting queer content as outlined in this bill will only promote bullying of queer kids. Anyone that supports this bill is a disgrace to humanity. Let kids be themselves. Keep the government out of schools. And shame on you for scheduling the hearing during a snowstorm; discouraging public comment. Vote NO on this bill.

02-12-2025

Katie Freeman

I strongly oppose HSB 84. This bill increases the likelihood of losing youth to suicide. Learning about different gender identies and sexual orientations does not make you a different gender identity or sexual orientation. However, it can save the life of a youth that identifies as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. It can save their life by being recognized as existing, and removing the stigma surrounding our lives and how we stay safe. As a queer trans adult in this state, and growing up in Iowa public education in the 80's through 2000, I can attest that I learned an awful lot about heterosexual sexuality and identity, and it didn't make me straight or cis. It did however provide lots of fear and isolation. Let's give the next generation of kids a better start! Vote NO to HSB 84.

02-12-2025

Dana Tiegen

Please pass this bill. All children should be accepted and welcomed in school. There is no reason adults should know the sexuality of children. Our school pushes sexuality into everything. They promote it over academics. Students that don't identify in this group are made to feel like outcasts and are ostracized. The learning environment in our High School is so uncomfortable for many students because the sexuality of others is constantly being thrown in their face. Adults that care and the sexual preferences of children are groomers.

02-12-2025

Curt Hancock

I fully support extending the prohibitions made last year for K 6 to include 7 12.If we cannot, or will not, teach creation and the biblical worldview of sexual identity and marriage between a man and woman in schools, then we also cannot teach the secularhumanist worldview related to the belief systems of fluid gender identity and do what feels good sexual orientation.

02-12-2025

Storm O'Brink

Vote no. I have worked with LGBTQ youth for 10 years in victim services at different nonprofits, so as a youth service worker I have a lot of background on this. Lets not delude ourselves: you created this bill with the intent to erase LGBTQ people and their history from the State of Iowa. You also scheduled the subcommittee on it during a blizzard, with less than 24 hours notice, with the hope you wouldnt have to listen to us because we couldnt make it to see you there in person. You wont be successful at erasing us, but you will hurt Iowa youth.School districts tend to read these bills in the most conservative lens as a means of protecting themselves from state litigation, which means that some of the districts interpret this bill to direct them not to include LGBTQ sexual health information in sex education which is essentially what this bill is doing. This can eventually become a major public health concern in the form of higher STI transmission rates. For trans and intersex youth who receive very little education about their unique bodies to begin with, this means leaving them in the dark completely. This also means that youth will turn to sources outside of the school that may or may not be accurate such as Tik Tok, Youtube, Pornhub and whatever they find on Google. I dont think you understand the situation we have on our hands regarding sex education. The following are all stories about young people in the LGBTQ community aged 1218 living in Iowa in Black Hawk, Polk, Linn, and Johnson Counties:Multiple children told me they didnt pay attention during human growth and development because that stuff doesnt apply to them or include them because they are LGBTQ.A gay child once told me that he believed he wasnt allowed to buy condoms because he wasnt 18, and he couldnt get pregnant anyway so whats the point? and thats why he had unprotected sex.A queer child told me that she was on birth control but it wasnt real birth control, because it was just for her periods.Multiple trans masculine children told me they didnt think they could get pregnant because they were on testosterone hormone therapy. This is false, and some of them had already risked unprotected sex because of this belief.Some young trans girls believed that estrogen HRT made them infertile, which while it can reduce fertility, is not always true. They received no education about this. I know of Iowa adults who, because their sex education didnt include relevant information to them regarding LGBTQ sexual health, now have HIV. I have also known adults in Iowa who, because they received zero education about their trans bodies post transition, learned that they were wrong to assume they couldnt become pregnant or get anyone pregnant after going on HRT. They learned this through unintended pregnancy, which could have been prevented if they were included in sex education. You considered this bill a high enough priority to schedule a subcommittee but you ignored the actual issues facing our children. There are homeless children sleeping outside in tents or in unheated, abandoned houses in Johnson county RIGHT NOW. And you did NOTHING to stop that. Stop being useless and do your job.

02-12-2025

Jivani Rodriguez

This is absolutely ridiculous. DO NOT PASS THIS BILL. By this same measure, you cannot tell students which bathroom to use as they are marked by gender (which, to be clear, gender neutral bathrooms are a good thing). Policing of gender identity has no place in schools. Children are there to learn (and varying gender expressions is simply a fact of the world which they should know about), not be accosted by adults who are inappropriately interested or enraged by what they think a child's genitals look like. Do not censor biology and science, which supports trans and LGBTQ+ truth. No person should be made to feel that they are wrong simply for being themselves. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you should get to erase it. Just because you hate vanilla ice cream doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to eat it. Mind your business, and stop infringing on children's rights. From the ACLU: "Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bans discrimination on the basis of sex by public schools, and the Supreme Court held in 2020 (Bostock v. Clayton County) that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is sex discrimination. Thus, Title IX prohibits students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Federal courts have held that Title IX requires public schools to respond to harassment based on appearance or behavior that doesnt conform to gender stereotypes: boys who wear makeup, girls who wear pants, or students who are transgender or nonbinary."

02-12-2025

Jody Hovland

Prohibiting even the acknowledgment much less acceptance and support of differences in sexual orientation and gender identity is simply cruel. Children ALL our children deserve to be recognized and respected. Please stop this bill from advancing, and further embarrassing Iowa in its ongoing efforts to repress individual liberties.

02-12-2025

Chris Campbell

There is a cult movement taking over our vaunted public schools. Its called Queer Theory. Its prophets are Michel Foucault, Gayle Rubin, Pat Califia, and Judith Butler. Its sacraments are hormone injections and surgical removal of genitals.One of its core concepts is Gender Identity, which refers to a childs inner gendered soul, which is often at odds with the childs body. Gender Identity is revealed to parents with (un)holy signs, like a child not wanting a haircut or not standing to urinate. This is according to the Temple at Boston Childrens Hospital. You can find some of their videos archived on the video site Rumble. One video is entitled "Boston Childrens Hospital Says Kids May Know They are Transgender as Early as Birth.In this cult, heretics are known as transphobes who are denying someone's "right to exist". If that phrase is confusing to you, it's because you haven't read and accepted the Queer Theory scriptures.For a sixminute introduction to some of the prophets of Queer Theory and famous passages from its scriptures, you can watch environmental activist Derrick Jensens video called Queer Theory Jeopardy.Im not sure cult programming is a good idea for our schools, so I support this bill.

02-12-2025

Jonathan Danker

I oppose this bill because it would take rights to be who they want to be. Is this the land of freedom or is this the land of oppression? Freedom of expression is one of the rights we have in our constitution. If you pass this bill, lives will be lost and people will move from Iowa and make our state less nice. This isnt Iowa nice. Please for the sake of Iowas future, Dont Pass this HSB 84.

02-12-2025

Rick Phillips [PELLA PAC]

If gender dysphoria is a naturally occurring phenomena affecting only 1% of children, why then do we need to reconstruct education to proselyte the normal 99% of children? What is the academic value of this type of indoctrination? All gender identity has produced is division and strife. It is at the core of adolescent confusion. Advance HSB84 to committee.

02-12-2025

Geralyn Jones

I strongly urge PASSING this bill through subcommittee. Currently, places like classrooms, halls, gyms, curriculum and teachers apparel are filled with gender identity and sexual expression. WHY are taxpayer dollars used to fund the initiative of students expressing their sexual preferences? Furthermore, WHY are students who simply want to learn having this sexuality expressionism pushed throughout every part of the day. The nations report card showed we clearly are spending less time of the quality of education and more on gender identity. Lets get back to the basics and focus on bolstering our academic proficiency scores again. Please vote IN FAVOR of moving this bill forward. Thank you for prioritizing this issue.

02-12-2025

Joe Monahan

Just need to point out that this bill does NOTHING to erase the homosexual community, or discriminate against homosexuals. It simply states that the woke public school system is not trustworthy to speak of this subject in a fair or objective way. The schools have lost the trust of the tax payer plain and simple. If you want your children to learn all about homosexuals you are till perfectly free to teach them at home.

02-12-2025

Andrea Vanourney

I support this bill and propose this to also be in effect for elementary school students k6th grades. The amount of influence and indoctrination going on in public schools is grotesque. Not to mention the divisions it creates not only in the student body, but with the staff and parents. The immature behaviors witnessed by proclaiming "adults" is a huge reason why enrollment numbers have gone down. It's saddening to see this downfall in our communities.

02-12-2025

Jessica Roman

All humans have gender identity and sexual orientation. Removing human traits from education is baffling. I suspect the purpose behind this bill is to erase LGBTQ students from being able to openly exist in a place that is supposed to be safe for all kids school. This is the perfect way to boost our alreadyincreasing rates of child suicides.

02-12-2025

Michelle Warin

IN FULL SUPPORT, PASS HSB84! There are biological males and biological females, thats it, can never completely physically change that. Teaching the biology of each within our schools, yes. Beyond that, such as sexually explicit content, gender identity, LGBTQ, etc., belongs outside of school, in the private.

02-12-2025

Philip Dean

I 100% support this bill. So many comments here show that people don't understand what this is. It doesn't limit limit teaching history or any other element of education. It limits cultural indoctrination and harm caused by ignoring what kids really need: Loving and involved parents. Parents, not schools, should raise their kids and help them navigate the emotional and impactful period that is childhood. Schools assist by teaching, reading, writing, arithmetic, and factual history and civics. Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation has absolutely nothing to do with education.

02-12-2025

Elaine Petersen

I oppose this bill. We need lawmakers to focus on what really matters for our youth and public schools funding, mental health, & safety. Using gender and sexual identity as a distraction from the real issues in our public schools is disappointing. Please, work for ALL Iowans in providing a safe space for ALL students to learn about ALL of humanity.

02-12-2025

Cheryl Elsloo

I am in favor of this bill. Please read the following quote from: https://www.summit.org/resources/articles/exposingthegenderliethereasonforconcern/Families are distraught and confused. Americans as a whole, according to polling by Summit Ministries, seem baffled by the whole issue. Twothirds of Americans say they do not think that transgender identity is a normal, healthy lifestyle. Seventytwo percent say that it should not be taught in schools. Ninety percent say that genderalteration drugs and surgeries should not be performed on minors. Yet for the gender ideologues and the moneyed players who set this topdown, systematic deconstruction of sex in motion, the instinctual clarity most people have about the issue is misguided. The confusion that gender ideology creates is a feature, not a bug of their entire project. If none of this makes any reasonable sense to you, well, that is precisely the point. At the root, we are dealing with a postmodern rejection of reality that is bound to fail. The question is: How many lives must be shattered by it before it does?

02-12-2025

Rich Lee

T R A N S G E N D E RA F F I R M I N GEverybody has the right to choose their own gender by listening to their ownheart and mind. Everyone gets to choose if they are a girl or a boy or both orneither or something else, and no one else gets to choose for them It is not ok to promote this nonsense ideology. I support this bill.

02-12-2025

Michael Sydnor

I think teachers should be allowed to teach and that students and other people who are struggling with their identity should receive the help that they need. This bill will increase the stigmatization of trans, gay, and other youth who struggle with these issues which will raise the mental health difficulties of these populations and increase suicide rates. Please vote against this.

02-12-2025

Amy Edmonds

When will this legislature stop using all their time to bully a minority of the population who are already bullied and marginalized? Just how many bills will this session introduce about LGBTQ students. When will this legislature start focusing on the things that matter?

02-12-2025

Sandy Kuenzi

Hayley Carter I strongly SUPPORT this bill. Schools need to focus on core academics rather than promoting discussions/teachings on gender identity/sexual orientation. That is a conversation for parents to have with their children and it is beyond inappropriate for the classroom.

02-12-2025

Sandy Kuenzi

02-12-2025

Sheryl Soden [Retired]

Our kids have been unindated w/ "sex education" which should be left to the parents and the schools have totally taken over this responsibility. LGBTQ+ have been shoved down their throats but if any Christian theology is brought up, it's all hell to pay. I'm tired of this one way street of indoctrination that professes to know what's best for our kids. This has to stop and stop NOW.

02-12-2025

Ashley Becker

As an educator and a parent I highly disagree with this bill. My daughter wont be harmed in any way by learning how to support or learn about any LGBTQIA+ materials, lessons, etc. in the school. I strive for her to learn about others that differ from herself. Only than will she grow to be a compassionate, caring, empathetic, and listening member of society. We must make it more accessible to learn about others than harder. Im absolutely embarrassed and sad for the direction of our educational system. It was such a strong reason why I loved public schools for my children and stressed their value to others. This breaks my heart that were just allowing this type of behavior, these bans. Stop with this and actually pass legislation that would HELP and SUPPORT us as parents and as educators.

02-13-2025

Lauren Whitehead

As an Iowa parent I strongly OPPOSE this bill, which seeks to discriminate and silence out of fear. You can choose to be ignorant on the REALITIES of modern life, but dont try to make MY child a fool in society. Iowa continues to live in the past and wonder why kids abandon the state as soon as they graduate? This bill seeks to institutionalize discrimination and suppresses my childs right to a high quality education preparing her for the real world.

02-13-2025

Teresa Wellman

I oppose this bill! This bill is a waste of legislative resources. While you may seek to erase LGBTQ+ folks from existence, they are NOT going away. And neither are their friends and family who will move mountains to protect them from this discrimination. If folks cant talk about gender variation, then how will we handle Suzy who has two uncles? Or Tommy that has two moms? How are these childrens genuinely curious questions to be answered by those trusted adults around the ?Its bad enough that we have legislation K6. It should be repealed. But its wholly ignorant to believe the questions of gender and sexual identity wont emerge during puberty in the 712 grades.

02-13-2025

Jennifer Breon

With this bill, the GOP will not succeed in denying the reality of lived experience of LGBTQ+ people, you will only cast a shadow of oppression and judgement over the educational system, creating an environment that is small minded, lacking in compassion, real world knowledge, and understanding. Erasure by the state and the school system will cause LGBTQ+ kids to be bullied and harmed physically and emotionally, increasing the risk of suicide and violence. The authors of this injustice will make bigots of their own children, a blight upon their souls, and our communities.

02-13-2025

Justin Scott

For those of us who value equality and the right to exist authentically, this bill is a dangerous step backward. Under the pretense of "protecting" students, HSB84 is an attempt to erase the identities of LGBTQ+ youth from our schools. Censorship of gender identity and sexual orientation does not make students safer; it makes them invisible and vulnerable. Kids deserve to be seen and heard, not hidden away from important conversations about who they are. Instead of encouraging acceptance and understanding, this bill breeds fear and shame. Only by allowing students to express themselves can we ensure they grow up confident and true to who they are. We cannot stand idly by while this discriminatory bill moves forwardour kids deserve better. Allowing this bill to pass would send the message that certain students are not worth protecting or supporting. Gender identity and sexual orientation are a part of who we are, and no bill should erase that. Our schools should be places of inclusion, where all students feel valued and accepted. Public education should never be used as a tool to silence or discriminate against students.

02-15-2025

Sarah Wirth

CON I'm running out of words for all of the antitrans bills being introduced, I see the mental toll they are taking on my trans and nonbinary friends and family. This does not improve education and learning, and directly harms the mental wellbeing of children who just want to show up as themselves in the classroom and the world every day. Representation benefits everyone, it helps us care about each other and hold empathy. Please oppose this bill.