Lgbtq iowa media

Iowa LGBTQ Media Manual released in the wake of unprecedented attacks from the Governor and legislature

Local and national organizations jointly released the Iowa LGBTQ Media Guide today, to provide accurate facts and encourage appropriate representation of the LGBTQ community in the media. This year’s guide comes after an unprecedented amount of hateful, anti-LGBTQ policies proposed and passed during this year’s Republican-led legislative session in Iowa.

One Iowa, Iowa Safe Schools, Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, GLAAD, and Progress Iowa jointly released the guide, which can be viewed by clicking here.

The following leaders issued statements on the need to provide the Iowa LGBTQ Media Guide and the positive impact it can provide to those reporting on LGBTQ issues in our declare, discussing policies impacting Iowans, and ally with those in need of our support: 

“Now is not the time to be silent. The LGBTQ community continues to be under attack in our state and across the country. We are proud to partner on the LGBTQ media instruction because it is more important than ever to contribute the stories of LGBTQ folks living in Iowa. We are your neighbors, friends, and fami

Educating leaders in LGBTQ advocacy

Since 2018, the LGBTQ Governance Institute has provided LGBTQ individuals across Iowa with the skills, connections, and confidence to lead authentically in their communities. Running annually from June to October, this program bids a structured curriculum constructed to foster leadership, resilience, and professional growth.

Program Overview:

  • LGBTQ Foundations – Covering history, intersectionality, power, and privilege.
  • Resilient Leadership – Strengthening contact, accountability, and self-care.
  • Skill Building – Developing public speaking, media training, and political engagement skills.
  • Mentorship & Capstone – Pairing participants with mentors and guiding them in creating a personal leadership project.

Each participant designs a Capstone Project based on their passions and career goals, with past projects ranging from putting into action nonprofits to writing books, creating art, and planning career shifts. Through mentorship and skill-building, the LGBTQ Leadership Institute helps individuals take meaningful steps toward leadership and advocacy.

Applications uncover annually—future leaders are encouraged to apply.

Applicatio

LGBTQ people live, work and raise families in every U.S. state, including states hosting the first caucuses and primaries. 

Campaign coverage should inform voters about the candidates and the LGBTQ issues they are campaigning on. Reporters must accept extra care to be accurate and inclusive when reporting on conversations and proposals about marginalized people. 

The safety of LGBTQ Americans and their ability to live free from discrimination are at stake.  

LGBTQ Iowans: Context to Know and Report

  • 3.6% of adult Iowans are LGBTQ, with 27% of them raising children.
  • Iowa’s new “Don’t Say LGBTQ” law has resulted in the removal of 450 books from schools and libraries, and it banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity through 7th grade. In December, District Judge Stephen Locher struck down the publication ban provision as “incredibly broad” and the direction ban as “wildly overbroad.” Additional background from Lambda Legal, representing seven Iowa families and Iowa Shielded Schools, describing the regulation as creating “a toxic and dangerous environment that puts students at exposure of harm, bullying, hostility, and even suicide.”
  • Last November, Iowans overwhelmingly rejected

    ICYMI: Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds Signs “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” and Sex Ed Censorship Bills into Law

    Human Rights Campaign Legislative Counsel Courtnay Avant released the following statement:

    “It is egregious that radical politicians in Iowa are using their dominance to jeopardize the lives and dignity of LGBTQ+ students across the declare. Attempting to erase LGBTQ+ people and issues from the classroom isolates an entire group of youth who justify to feel affirmed and safe at school. Lawmakers should be working to uplift inclusion and diversity in learning process - not marginalizing and stigmatizing Gay students.”

    Anti-LGBTQ+ legislators are targeting LGBTQ+ youth by attempting to silence, erase, and isolate them through curriculum censorship, manual bans, and other divisive tactics. But poll after poll indicates that Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to these actions to punish and target LGBTQ+ youth. In 2020, eight of the 10 books that received the most challenges to use in libraries and schools were based on LGBTQ+ subjects or narratives, according to the American Library Association’s annual ranking of books that were banned or protested in schools and public libraries.

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    LGBTQ rights organization says it's getting more calls about state ID changes

    LGBTQ rights organizations are encouraging people who demand to change their gender marker on an Iowa birth certificate or mention ID to do so as soon as possible.

    Lavender Legal, a legal center that provides representation for LGBTQ Iowans, has seen a significant uptick in cases related to declare identifying documents since Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF 418 into law. The wide-ranging law impacts gender nonconforming and non-gender conforming Iowans by:

    • Removing gender identity as a protected characteristic under the Iowa Civil Rights Act
    • Banning transgender women from women’s public restrooms, prisons and shelters
    • Removing the process to change sex designation on a new Iowa birth certificate

    The law goes into effect July 1.

    Lavender Legal Director Kendra Weston told IPR that more people are calling to get help with transforming sex designations on declare documents, like birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

    SF 418 also requires new birth certificates show sex, limited to male or female, that’s “clinically verified at birth.” The law also removes the process that allows transgender Iowans to change lgbtq iowa media