Sthecarlet & Black Rally to Resist: Grinnellians protest anti-LGBTQ+ legislation

By Nina Baker bakernin@grinnell.edu

Over 1,000 protesters, including Grinnell students, faculty, staff and community members, gathered at the foot of the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines, on March 6, rallying against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation currently being debated by the majority-Republican Iowa legislature.

The protest was sponsored by groups across the state including One Iowa Action, League of Women Voters (LWV) of Iowa, ACLU of Iowa and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Grinnell, among others. Demonstrators held signs and chanted, urging the legislature to vote down anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. The rally came after hundreds of Iowa students walked out of school on Wednesday to protest the legislation, according to the Des Moines Register.

While the majority of legislation affects public educational institutions or those under 18, Rachel Bly `93, Grinnell College director of conference operations and events, said advocacy for political change is essential to push back against the legislation and create change to protect LGBTQ+ Iowans.

“As students, faculty and staff, we can be advocating, we can be voting, we can do things like go to the capitol,” Bly said. “It’s really, really critically important for us to do so on a personal level.”

Iowa’s legislative session ends April 28, 2023. Legislation slated to be debated on the floor includes a bill mandating that faculty or staff notify parents or guardians of a student’s transgender identity, a bill banning mention of gender identity or sexual orientation from grades K-6, a bill allowing healthcare providers to refuse care on the basis of “sincerely

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