Iowans stage protest against anti-LGBTQ legislation

Frustrated by the onslaught of legislative efforts by Republican lawmakers targeting the state’s LGBTQ community and especially students, a huge protest crowd estimated to be more than 1,000 parents, students, educators, faith leaders, community organi ers and elected officials attended the Sunday “Rally to Resist” on the West steps of the Iowa State Capitol.

“Iowans have had enough. We understand that our friends, neighbors and family members are under attack and their rights are being stripped away. And Iowans are unified against anti-LGBT bills,” a Progress Iowa spokesperson told the Des Moines Register.

Iowa Senate Democrats welcomed the protesters tweeting: “Today, Iowa students and families showed up to protest all of the anti-LGBT bills sponsored by Republican politicians. Senate Democrats were proud to welcome them to the Iowa State Capitol.

“No politician has the right to tell us which bathroom to use, deny us medical care, dictate which pronouns to call ourselves, ban books and curriculum, roll back civil rights, deny adoption and foster care, do away with marriage equality, or call queer people obscene,” a Progress Iowa press release stated.

The Des Moines Register additionally reported that the rally comes after hundreds of students across Iowa walked out of class last Wednesday to protest the LGBT legislation.

Organi ers estimated students at 47 schools across Iowa walked out as Republican lawmakers pushed forward with legislation aimed at tightening school policies and state law regarding gender identity, sexual orientation, gender-affirming care and equity, diversity and inclusion.

In an interview with the Register during the rally, Courtney Reyes, the executive director of One Iowa and One Iowa Action, said that in her 3½ years as executive director she has seen a “constant attack” on the LGBT community, specifically targeting transgender people.

“People in that building are making laws about us, and they don’t know about gender healthcare, they don’t know what it means to the families that need that service,” Reyes said. “When you threaten to take that away, you’re putting people’s lives in danger.”

“When folks are having their rights taken away, we need our allies to get uncomfortable,” Reyes told the paper.

Brody Levesque

State Department spokesperson to step down

State Department spokesperson Ned Price will step down at the end of this month.

Price has been at the State Department since the first day of the Biden-Harris administration, and is the first openly gay person named to the role. Price was previously a senior communications official for the National Security Council and worked at the Central Intelligence Agency.

“Ned began as spokesperson on January 20, 2021,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday in a press release that announced Price’s resignation. “Within days of taking on the role, he restored the department’s daily press briefings, giving journalists the chance to regularly ask tough questions of our policy. Throughout the more than 200 briefings he has since held, he’s treated journalists — as well as colleagues and everyone else he interacts with — with respect.”

“Ned has helped the U.S. government defend and promote press freedom around the globe and modeled the transparency and openness we advocate for in other countries,” added Blinken. “His contributions will benefit the department long after his service.”

Blinken said Price’s “firm grasp of the policies underlying our messaging made him that much more effective in his role.”

“On a personal level, I have constantly benefited from his counsel, as have so many members of the department,” said Blinken. “Fortunately, I’ll be able to continue to do that, as Ned will continue to serve at State, working directly for me.”

“For people in America and around the world, Ned Price has often been a face and voice of U.S. foreign policy,” added Blinken. “He’s performed with extraordinary professionalism and integrity. On behalf of the department, I thank Ned for his remarkable service.” envoy for LGBTQ and intersex rights, are among those who also participated.

Price during a May 2021 interview with the Washington Blade said the decriminali ation of consensual same-sex sexual relations is one of the five priorities for the Biden-Harris administration in its efforts to promote LGBT and intersex rights abroad.

Blinken last June spoke to this reporter and five other LGBT and intersex journalists during a roundtable at the State Department. Price and Jessica Stern, the special U.S.

Russia’s continued crackdown on LGBTQ and intersex rights are among the issues about which Price spoke during his briefings. Price’s tenure also coincided with WNBA star Brittney Griner’s arrest in Moscow, and her eventual release from a Russian penal colony where she had been serving a 9-year sentence after a court convicted her of smuggling drugs into the country.

The State Department has not announced who will succeed Price.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS