Meeting Public Comments

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SF 2003

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 theory or sexual orientation instruction in grades seven through twelve.

Agenda

Subcommittee members: Green-CH, Donahue, Salmon

Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Time: 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM

Location: Senate Lounge

Comments Submitted:

The purpose of comments is to provide information to members of the subcommittee.

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

01-21-2026

Patricia Higby [Iowa AAUW]

We are as God made us. Some of us are lefthanded, not because we choose to be, because being lefthanded in a right dominated world is hard. It is the same for people who are made sexually different by their creator. They do not choose to be the way they are, but we have the choice to accept them or try to change them. Did you or someone you loved have your left hand tied behind your back in an effort to make you righthanded? Did it work? The answer is, of course, no. God is testing you on your ability to love others, even when they are different. I urge you to reject this bill for the sake of yourselves as well as the children it will harm.

01-21-2026

Grace Daiker

Please say no to this bill. Whether or not it is "allowed" to be discussed in schools, children will learn about it. The issue is, when they can't come to their health teacher and ask if it's normal to have a crush on someone of the same sex, it will make them feel as though there is something wrong with it. On top of that, so many books read in Greek mythology or Romeo and Juliet are romantic. They are inherently learning about heteronormative sexual identities, so they should be free to learn them all.

01-21-2026

Lauri Coffman

This is asinine and preposterous. Staying in your "white straight" little blindfolded world helps no one. Education about what's happening with kids currently is what you should be focusing on... not YOUR backward thoughts. Because of asinine bills like this, you're promoting more pedo boys like too many white men (Epstein files ring a bell)? Get kids educated, it's going to happen anyway. Kids will learn from other sources, like social media (and we know how factual that is, you know Fox BSya right, NOT). So you're really kicking your own selves in the azz as this will all happen whether you have a bill or not. Would rather have the kids educated properly (not indoctrinated, which is what those supporting this bill are after). Those of us who embrace diversity, as we're all immigrants and you know it, get along just fine in life as we can all be ourselves, unlike what you're trying to suppress. You're making matters worse and the kids will just go elsewhere for info... and you'll end up with lots of kids needing unnecessary counseling which we know many of you will never provide. So get off your straight, white brooms and get help yourselves, and stop this asinine bill.

01-21-2026

Madeline Cole

As an educator of almost 15 years, I strongly oppose SF 2003 and any similar legislation that attempts to rein in even the basic acknowledgement that LGBTQ+ people exist. It is a disservice to students who do not have openly LGBTQ+ people in their lives, because it keeps them in ignorance. People shy away from things they do not understand, and this sets these students up to be bullies, to not accept themselves or others when they do come out as gay, gender nonconforming, or any LGBTQ+ identity.Of course, it is also actively dangerous for the teens who are LGBTQ+ themselves, whose suicide attempt rate is already higher than the average teen. Showing love, support, and just a baseline understanding of their existence is a key way to combat this for our youth. According to the Trevor Project, "LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020)."If the risk that your vote will contribute to the high LGBTQ+ teen suicide rate does not sway you, let me also remind you that it is not merely the honest acknowledgement of contemporary LGBTQ+ families and lives that will come up on schools. It is also historical figures. American Revolutionary hero Casimir Pulaski saved George Washington's life, and was also possibly intersex based on exhumations of their body. How will you talk about Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man named Robert Shurtliff to serve in the Continental Army if you can't talk about gender identity? What about the fascinating French spy, Chevalier don, who wanted to help the American patriot cause?And how do you intend to have any kind of effectual biology class?Finally, in response to folks who feel it is not a school's place to discuss any sort of sexuality or gender theory, are we banning all talks of children's mothers and fathers being married, all division of genderbased sports? Acknowledging the existence of a man and women marrying or two separate genders IS talking about heterosexuality and the existence of genders. Only talking about some people's identities and not others is harmful to the dynamic between children and their eventual understanding of themselves. It is absolutely a school's job to combat hate and create a supportive emotional/mental health environment. Thank you for your time and your reconsideration of this legislation.Maddie Cole, 2012 University of Iowa graduate

01-21-2026

Wendy B-Henderson

Education is freedom and power. Why on earth would we not recognize all people and teach accordingly. Burying heads in the sand does not, and has never, provided good outcomes. Feeling uncomfortable, and being judgmental is not a reason to legislate censorship of curricular information. Not acknowledging kids for WHO THEY ARE is cruel. Not educating others to understand and respect differences is ignorant.Do not vote to pass this

01-21-2026

Frances Maus

I vehemently oppose this legislation and any similar legislation that attempts to erase a specific group of people from the curriculum. Schools should be a safe place for all students. Curricula should be set by professional educators, not partisan politicians with a political agenda. Vote no!

01-21-2026

Shelly Cannon

Dont say gay wont make it go away like youre trying to do. Kids already know all about this. I am a retired registered nurse that spent years taking care of both straight people and gay people back in the 80s. I took care of young men that no one would come to see or help them when they were in the hospital dying of aids.We have young teens that are gay whether you like the word or not. It will always be here. No ones going anywhere.What happened to your heart and your compassion for people if youre a Christian youre definitely not a Christian because thats not what Jesus would do. Stop trying to erase us. Its not going to happen. Be human be kind. Do what Jesus would do. He was not afraid of anyone.

01-21-2026

Natasha Das

The politicians and groups behind these bills want to useour laws to control what students can and cannot read,what they can and cannot learn, andmost troublinglywho they can and cannot be. Our schools should protect allstudentsincluding LGBTQ studentsso they can learnand thrive in a safe environment. This law would forceschools to violate that most basic trust

01-21-2026

Audrey Vander Schel

I strongly oppose SF 2003 and any similar legislation. Id rather see education legislation efforts focused on improving scientific literacy so our youth can grow up to be better than this obsession with punishing those who are different.

01-21-2026

Sheila Gregan

Dear Republicans, So tired of these bills that target certain members of our community! There is no threat here but you are so afraid of anything that is outside your narrow, religious worldview. Do your job and focus on things that affect everyday Iowans like cost of living, education and health care. NO to this bill.

01-21-2026

Carolyn Stephenson

This legislation is promoting shame and ignorance in Iowa's children. Shame for those who feel "different" from their peers and ignorance for those who don't understand that one's genitals don't determine one's gender identity. This proposed legislation reminds me of the phrase from the South Pacific musical "Children have to be taught to hate". I would rather Iowa children learn compassion for those who are different, whether that is in gender identity, neurodiversity and any of the ways we are each unique because God created us that way.

01-21-2026

Anne Wilber

I strongly oppose this bill. We talk about the land of the free yet are suggesting bills that do the opposite. If you support freedom of expression and speech, start acting on that rather than excluding a group of people from our vocabulary.

01-21-2026

Avery Horton

I implore the lawmakers to vote NO on this proposal. LGBT people are a part of life, whether you like it or not. The job of education, especially after students reach grades 712, should be to prepare them for the real world. Pretending that these people do not exist undermines this goal. For those worried about this from a religious standpoint, I would ask that you read your Bible again. God told us to love our neighbors, and Jesus loved everyone regardless of their background. Any attempt to erase these people from the public eye is actively unChristlike. If you consider it a sin to keep students informed, I must ask that the committee also examine the wearing of mixed fabrics or trimming the edges of one's beard in public schools. The people screaming about how all LGBT people are "groomers" are the real sinners, and I pray that they find Christ and seek His forgiveness before it's too late.

01-22-2026

Meghan Scheidel

As a mother of LGBTQ+ children, I understand the way this discrimination pushes children away from their peers, their hometown, their school. They way that shaming gender and sexual orientation into a topic that we do not discuss, makes children into pariahs among their peers. Shaming gender and sexual orientation in an environment where children are finding their identity, learning how to interact with their peers, shaping their future, does not leave children open to pursuing an authentic adulthood. I can tell you from personal experience, you are driving these children away from Iowa. While, that may be your goal, it is detrimental to the state. You are already aware that enrollment in Iowa schools is down, young families are leaving the state. Where does the State's income come from if we keep driving tax payers away? Religious ideology DOES NOT BELONG IN SCHOOLS. Your beliefs should not and will not govern my children or myself.

01-19-2026

Teresa Wellman

I oppose this bill and urge this committee to negate it.When adolescents reach the grades of 712, they are of the pubescent ages to begin examining their inner selves. I know this because our son began his journey to come out of the closet in grade 9. It was heartbreaking to us that he was afraid to share his thoughts and feelings with us for a couple years, fearful that we would disown him. Our daughter began dating her now husband in grade 8. We owe it to ALL our children to provide comprehensive health information that encompasses all angles of humanity and sexuality, not just adhering to the norm when we all know that the Bell curve leaves much room for variation. Hiding the world from our children is never a good thing.

01-19-2026

Courtney Collier

Please support this bill with a yes vote. Human brains do not fully develop until age 25 or 26. Minor aged students should not be discussing or learning about gender theory and sexual orientation at school. This opens the doors for bad actors to groom students. Additionally, discussing these topics with minor aged children can be very confusing and even traumatic for them. Students today are not proficient in math or literacy skills. Schools complain they dont have enough time to teach the material its because they are too focused on teaching these depressing worldviews and theories. Students need to be learning skills for being successful, independent adults. Time to cut the trash out of government school curriculum and watch the students thrive again.

01-20-2026

Angie Wenell

I support this bill. It is the right and prerogative of parents and families to address these issues with their children. The eduation system should not incorporate biased views regarding social experiments and controversial ideologies into curriculum. Parents are tired of it, and it would be to the public educations systems own benefit to remove it from the classroom.

01-20-2026

Grace Rogers

The previous version of this bill from K6 has already impacted my children in negative ways. When their counselor gave a presentation about bullying, my child told them that they forgot to mention LGBTQ+ as a group that can be bullied and the counselor told my child, were not allowed to talk about that in school. So essentially by NOT allowing discussion about gender identity and sexual orientation, were giving children a green light to bully LGBTQ+ kids. Its utterly ridiculous that the Iowa legislature is spending any time on these sorts of bills whatsoever when they could be feeding hungry children or increasing teachers salaries to name a few. Get your heads out of the bible and do something GOOD for Iowans.

01-20-2026

Chelsea Wachholz

The Iowa Senate SF 2003 bill, introduced in January 2026, represents a significant expansion of existing restrictions. While current law prohibits instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for grades K6, SF 2003 seeks to extend this ban through grade 12.A subcommittee hearing for this bill is scheduled for Wednesday, January 21, 2026, in the Senate Lounge.1The Impact on Families and StudentsExpanding these restrictions creates several ethical and practical dilemmas that go beyond the classroom curriculum:Erasure of LGBTQ+ Families: For students with LGBTQ+ parents, these laws can make their home lives a "taboo" topic at school. If a teacher or student cannot acknowledge a child's parents in the context of "family life" curriculum, it sends a message that those families are invalid or shameful.The "Chilling Effect" on Safety: Research shows that when LGBTQ+ topics are censored, it creates an environment where bullying often increases. Teachers may feel legally barred from intervening in homophobic harassment if doing so requires discussing protected identities.Mental Health Consequences: Students who identify as LGBTQ+ often rely on school as a safe haven. Prohibiting any mention of their identity through high school can lead to higher rates of depression and suicidality by reinforcing the idea that they do not belong in the public sphere.Educational GapsCritics argue that a "full education" is impossible when entire historical and social realities are removed.2Historical Accuracy: Prohibiting these topics can prevent the teaching of major historical events (like the Stonewall Uprising) or the biographies of influential LGBTQ+ figures.Preparation for the Real World: High school students are on the verge of entering the workforce and higher education. Stripping away discussions on human diversity may leave them less prepared for diverse environments outside of Iowa.Public SentimentPublic comments on the bill have been deeply polarized. Supporters believe these topics should be reserved for parents at home, while opponents argue the law is a form of statesanctioned discrimination that targets a vulnerable minority.

01-20-2026

Maralyn Schulze [None]

LGBTQ kids and adults are a part of real life. Most kids in school have a family member, sibling, parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle who are LGBTQ. If they dont have a family member they have a friend or neighbor. This isnt something to be shunned or shoved in a closetwe are in 2026 for goodness sake. There are age appropriate ways to have these discussions. Kids themselves just bring this topic up on their own because they know someone in this community, and they dont think anything about it. Its only the uptight religious fanatics who totally over react to everything. Grow up!

01-20-2026

Erin T

I'm a woman of trans experience born in Iowa City and raised in Grinnell in the 90s. This bill would force today's trans youth in Iowa back into the incredibly homophobic and transphobic era I grew up, when there was no information on freedom of gender and sexuality.Vote NO on this vile restriction of individual freedom; our youth deserve the liberty to explore who they are and who they love, whether they're gay or straight, trans or cis.

01-20-2026

Gordie Felger

STOP! STOP! STOP! PLEASE JUST STOP! Please stop attacking and trying to erase LGBTQ+ Iowans. You were elected to represent ALL of your constituents. While you might deny it or wish it weren't true, some of YOUR constituents are LGBTQ+. They deserve your protection, not your condemnation. Please just let them live their lives in peace. They are not a threat!

01-20-2026

Alexis Waters

Do not continue with this bill. This bill is overtly harmful to children withhold information that is overtly part of the normal human experience. LGBTQ+ people have existed throughout our history and should be discussed openly and without prejudice. It's 2026, we do not force people to stay in the closet, live lives of silent torture. LGBTQ+ topics is not ideology, it's a facet of humanity and should not be shoved into a box out of sight.Do better.

01-20-2026

Nora Dwyer

Please vote no on this legislation. SF 2003 would hurt Iowa students by limiting honest, ageappropriate conversations in middle and high schoolsat a time when students need guidance, not silence.Students in grades seven through twelve are already navigating relationships, identity, and social pressures. Banning discussion of gender and sexual orientation doesnt stop these topics from existing; it just removes trusted adults from the conversation and leaves students to rely on misinformation or feel isolated.This bill is especially harmful to LGBTQ+ students. When schools are barred from acknowledging or supporting certain identities, it sends the message that some students dont belong. That can worsen bullying, mental health struggles, and feelings of isolation.SF 2003 also restricts teachers ability to do their jobs. Educators need flexibility to address bullying, promote respect, and respond to student needs. The bills broad language may cause schools to cut helpful programs simply out of fear of violating the law.Ultimately, this legislation doesnt protect studentsit limits education, reduces support, and makes schools less safe and less responsive. Iowa students deserve learning environments that are inclusive, supportive, and grounded in real life.

01-20-2026

Barbara Rhame

I continue to be amazed at the ignorance of some Iowans. Do you supppse that it is the teaching of these issues that is the causation? No, it is not. Further, by not teaching about this, you make it seem forbidden and shameful. We are all different one from another and we all deserve the same rights and respect and freedom from denigration. Please vote no on this, another heinous and misguided bill.

01-20-2026

L A

I oppose the bill. It's deeply concerning to me that there are people who are for it. I didn't have any education on this and when it became clear to me I was and am not straight, I was so lost and afraid. School is truly the safest place for so many kids and if they don't have that support or education at school, you are all supporting the signing of a bill that could cost lives the same way as many other republican bills do. I'm so disappointed in Iowa as a state, and so many of these people who are for this bill. The people for this bill are the reason we need this education because so many are uneducated on these topics and make up so many insane assumptions and take misinformation as truth.

01-20-2026

Kristen Friedrichs

Please vote no on this. This bill is so harmful. LGBTQ+ people exist including myself and all this bill does is make us want to leave this state. I don't want my children to be afraid to talk about their family at school. They should be able to celebrate it just like every other child. Again, please vote no.

01-20-2026

Mary McGee Light

Please vote NO on SF2003. The young people in these grades need to have this information to understand themselves and other people, who are similar to them or different. This bill wants to make it shameful for LBGTQ A people to exist. Please vote NO.

01-20-2026

Ysandril Morrigan

The blind loyalty of hatred and bigotry the Iowa Republican Party continues in service to the orange Cheeto is despicable. Do NOT advance this legislation. It is harmful, it is evil. Those who side with this will be remembered for their legacy of intolerance and ignorance. Try feeding Iowa children instead.Try caring about civil rights for all.Try caring about healthcare.Try not increasing property taxes by adding burdens to local school boards.Try adding more mental health beds.Try not sending us backwards in time.Try not being horrible human beings.Partisan politics have no business dictating the flow of education. Just because your fcist allegiance controls your limited views doesnt mean the rest of us want to bow down to your doctrine of bigotry.

01-20-2026

John Carr

SF 2003 needs to die in subcommittee. It's a bigoted bill that only harms a small segment of society...a segment that has become a scapegoat for the republican party for no other reasons than fear, hate, misunderstanding, but primarily for political gain.

01-20-2026

Stacy Volmer

I strongly oppose Senate File 2003 because it is an extreme and harmful bill that would ban any discussion or instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity for Iowa students in grades 712. This is not about ageappropriate educationit is statemandated censorship that silences educators and erases entire groups of students during a critical stage of development.SF 2003 would make schools less safe, not more. It would prevent teachers and counselors from addressing bullying, mental health, healthy relationships, and suicide prevention, and would block medically accurate, researchbased health education. When students cannot turn to trusted adults, they are more likely to feel isolated and seek information from unsafe or unreliable sources.Most troubling, this bill sends a clear message to LGBTQ+ students that they are not welcome or worthy of acknowledgment. Research consistently shows that when students feel excluded or invalidated at school, rates of depression, anxiety, absenteeism, and selfharm increase. Schools should be places of belonging and safety, not environments that deepen harm through silence. Iowa lawmakers should reject SF 2003 and stand for schools that educate, support, and protect all students.

01-20-2026

Lisa Medanic

Do not pass this bill. Children, especially by age 12 are beginning to realize what gender identity is and often beginning to realize whether or not they are straight, gay, or something else. Often parents are not willing to talk about such issues with their children. School needs to be a place where it is safe to learn about gender identity. Learning about the variety of genders that exist will not make a child gay any more than learning that there are lefthanded people will make a naturally righthanded child, lefthanded. Yet just a generation ago, we tried to force lefthanded people to be righthanded, hitting them when they used their left hand. Finally, we learned it is not a choice but a genetic difference and very few people would approve of that practice today. Gender identity is also genetic and thinking that not talking about it can somehow "protect" a child from becoming gay is as useless as hitting a lefthanded child to get them to become righthanded. Children need to learn about all the many ways in which people exist, the many nationalities, skin colors, heights, weights, and gender identities to prevent bullying and to help children become comfortable with and accepting of others who may be different from themselves.

01-20-2026

Larissa Boeck

American LGBTQAI+ people have been fighting back against governmentsponsored persecution for decades. Legislation like this seeks to undo many years of hardfought progress, and frame normal human behavior with shame and secrecy. LGBTQAI+ is documented in thousands of species. It is a natural. It is normal. People, most especially young vulnerable people need to know they are safe to talk about their queer family members as well as their own identities as they explore and establish who they are. This legislation is not only a colossal waste of time and resources. It adds to the degradation of our state as talented, educated people will continue leaving in droves to other places where they are celebrated and accepted. Your assignment is to go watch the 2008 movie Milk and then kill this outrageous bill. Listen to your actual constituents when we say we don't want SF 2003.

01-20-2026

Michael Aitchison

I strongly urge that the subcommittee OPPOSE SF 2003. Nearly all students in grades 7 through 12 have hit puberty, and as such naturally have questions regarding gender and sex. Some grade 12 students are 18 old enough to vote! Sheltering these students from basic knowledge of gender and human sexuality that is entirely appropriate for their level of physical and emotional development would do them a tremendous disservice.This bill is nothing more than legal cover for discrimination and antiLGBT propaganda in schools. It is also a shameful waste of legislators' time and efforts.

01-20-2026

Allison Gookin

Please vote NO on this bill. It is an attempt to further push LGBTQ Iowans out of public life by censoring any discussion of our history and existence from happening in schools. LGBTQ people are a part of everyday life, just like anyone else, whether people want us to be or not. Trying to shelter children from that fact will not prevent them from being gay or trans, all it will do is lead to more confusion, hurt, and miseducation for those children. I was an openly gay high schooler, and now I am an openly gay adult. Had I not learned about gay people as a teen, I would have still turned out this way, but I would have spent much longer hurting and confused about who I was and how I felt.

01-20-2026

Dennis Lambing [self]

Vote No on this bill.Nothing is sadder than learning at your 10 year reunion that your high school classmate came out as gay in college and not have the language necessary to talk about it.I graduated in 1984 with a class A Iowa education. How did we not learn about homosexuality in school? That needs to change.

01-20-2026

Nancy Huisinga [iowa cci]

Please do not pass sf2003 out of sub committee. I view this as a complete waste of law makers time. We in Iowa have very pressing, real problems that need to be addressed. Neither is it the legislature's place to determine what meets curriculum nor does it serve any purpose other than pandering to homophobes and to people who have nothing better to do than be concerned with how others express their sexuality. It's rather a moot point bc this isn't taught in schools anyway. Seems like a real waste of time, non issue.

01-20-2026

Hannah Doerge [N/A]

This bill is both harmful and stupid. I see concerns about "imposing sexuality" (whatever that means) on the students, but it's based on a faulty premise that heterosexuality is somehow default. Knowing that gay people exist isn't indoctrination any more than knowing straight people exist is. A story about two women or two men falling in love isn't more inherently sexual than a story of a man and a woman falling in love. Quit fetishizing queer Iowans and maybe focus on actually funding our schools instead of micromanaging the curriculum.

01-20-2026

Terri Gordy

Support at home, in school, and in the community is important for all children and youth who are exploring or questioning their gender identity and/or sexual orientation. Unfortunately, not all students have support at home or in their community. Its up to Iowa schools to educate students about LGBTQ+ issues, an important part of student healthcare. A teacher is a safe person who can provide the guidance and instruction students need.By the time they are in high school, most students have knowledge about the LGBTQ+ community. They may live with someone or know of someone who is part of the LGBTQ+ community. They may know how their gender identity or their sexual orientation. I oppose SF 2003 and ask that you vote NO on this legislation. Setting curricula for Iowa public schools should be left to professional educators.

01-20-2026

Janice H

If we dont pass this bill, where do we stop? Are furries going to become the next hot topic to discuss? The point is we do not want teachers with wrong motives to influence our kids. This is why parents choose to send their kids to private schools but so many cant get in or cant afford the tuition. Lets make our public schools great again and teach science based truth. Parents can handle the sexual orientation discussions.

01-20-2026

Lynda Lawson

I support this bill. These are not things any school or employee of a school should be addressing with a child in school. This is a personal issue and should remain the responsibility of the family unit, parents or guardians. Obviously schools need to be regulated in order to stop the overreach we have had children exposed to in recent years. I am definitely in favor of this bill. Curious to why it is not all ages of children attending any school classes and programs like headstart, etc through grade 12.

01-20-2026

Brian Bruening

This bill is a continuation of the demonization of LGBTQ people by the state legislature. It is wrongly based on the idea that you can make LGBTQ children disappear by abrogating their free speech rights and denying their existence. This shameful bill should be not move forward.

01-20-2026

Kasey McCormick

Please vote no for SF 2003. Discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation is necessary to create a safe, inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ students. A world with children who understand that diversity is normal helps foster respect, challenges stereotypes, prevents bullying and affirms the identities of students who are the minority. Please lead with compassion and vote no.

01-20-2026

Michael McCormick

I strongly oppose this bill and encourage every lawmaker to do so as well. This does nothing but further stigmatize and cause harm to children and teenagers. Children of all ages are perfectly capable of understanding and reasoning about gender identity and sexual orientation topics.I watched my own LGBTQ child struggle through his teenage years. He nearly died by his own hand more than once. Laws like this will push many children over the edge. It is prohate, antilife, and antichristian.

01-20-2026

Karen Agee

I can understand that some legislators and even some teachers may not want to be LGBTQ+ themselves, but it's silly to try to legislate that these broader expressions of gender do not exist by not permitting discussion of them in school. Most Iowans believe in science, gender diversity, and dignity of all individuals. Please DEFEAT this bill.

01-21-2026

Daniel Ginger-Goodson

I strongly oppose this discriminatory bill and urge our representatives to shut this down. Simply put it is hateful and bigoted. My children should not be made to feel alienated by their instructors and classmates because families like ours cant even be discussed.

01-21-2026

Carmen Hernandez

I emphatically oppose this bill. Any legislation that allows for or even promotes the dehumanization of any person is a violation of freedom. Fear of differences does not protect anyone and harms us all. A just society acknowledges, seeks to understand, and even celebrates differences. Iowa used to welcome all. Let our laws protect all. Let our laws permit open dialogue. Human individuality must not be suppressed by legislating it away.

01-21-2026

Susan Benderson

I oppose this bill. Teaching facts and acknowledging the existence of something that exists in nature is not grooming. Bullying LGBTQ+ in school is something you should worry about instead of trying to erase them. Allow parents to opt to have their kids leave the room if they don't want to hear it.

01-21-2026

Justin Scott

Fanatical obsessions with policing teenagers' thoughts seem to be the only consistent platform of the "moral" majority these days.Under the pretense of "protecting" children, you are simply enforcing a theocratic bubble where high schoolers are denied access to basic sociological reality.Clearly, nothing prepares a student for the modern world quite like pretending LGBTQ+ people don't exist until graduation day.Keep your bronzeage mythology out of public schools, because some of us prefer our children to be educated rather than indoctrinated.It is pathetic watching the party of "small government" desperately use the state to enforce religious taboos that society has largely outgrown.Obviously, the biggest threat to Iowa isn't our water quality or brain drain, but a 10th grader learning a vocabulary word that upsets a fundamentalist.What you are really afraid of is that without statemandated ignorance, the next generation will reject your archaic worldview entirely.All this bill achieves is signaling that your god is apparently too weak to survive a simple conversation about human biology.Genuine education requires exposure to diverse ideas, not a sanitized curriculum approved by a specific church's Sunday school board.Only in the warped minds of religious zealots is "ignorance" considered a virtue worth legislating into law.Please stop trying to drag our public education system back to the Dark Ages just to satisfy your own insecurities.

01-21-2026

Donna Wallace

Please oppose this bill SF 2003. All students deserve to be supported no matter their orientation or gender. You cannot teach a student math and reading if you deny their identity. I simply mean that they won't listen to you if you do not make some small effort to listen to them. Today you are after the students' curriculum, perhaps tomorrow you will control how they dress or who is teaching them? Teach all of the students all of the time, no matter what.

01-21-2026

Curtis CW Smith

I oppose the SF2003 bill. Basic rights apply to everyone, not just the ones who conform. Acknowledging that LGBTQA+ people exist does not turn people gay or trans. But allowing a child to know they're not alone may make it easier for them to feel safe as they learn.

01-21-2026

Luke Conner

Vote NO on SF2003. Censorship shouldn't be a priority of the Iowa legislature. The focus of educators should be equipping students with the knowledge they need to navigate the real world. Not some insulated, idealized version of it. This bill would be needlessly harmful for Iowa's students.

01-21-2026

Kathy Graeve

I oppose this bill. Enough of the culture wars. High school students are old enough to understand and learn to respect one another. Stop inflicting further harm to our LGBTQ neighbors and friends. Iowa is losing people of all ages to these laws. Focus on the cancer rate, improving Iowas economy.