Republicans are redefining the word ‘equal’ in an Iowa anti-trans bill | Erin Reed

The bill would require transgender people to be identified on birth certificates, a measure some compare to pink triangles'

On Tuesday afternoon, the Iowa house education committee met to debate House Study Bill 649, a bill proposed by the Republican governor, Kim Reynolds. The bill, as drafted, would end legal recognition for transgender people anywhere male" and female" appear in Iowa code and would require special gender markers for transgender people on birth certificates, measures that were compared to pink triangles" once used to identify LGBTQ+ people by Nazis in the 1940s. Perhaps the most ambitious attempt to discriminate against transgender people in the proposed legislation, however, is through redefining the word equal" in the bill.

The bill states that when it comes to transgender people, The term equal' does not mean same' or identical'," which raises the question: what does equal" even mean? The bill does not define the word, only declares that equal" no longer means same" or identical" within the state of Iowa for transgender people. When the sponsor was asked directly what the word equal" means in this bill, the representative Heather Hora answered: Equal would mean ... um ... I would assume that equal would mean ... I don't know exactly in this context."