Iowa must pay $85k to transgender students banned from bathroom at state Capitol

The state of Iowa must pay $85,000 to a group of transgender students after they were barred from entering a restroom at the Capitol five years ago.

The State Appeal Board approved the settlement Tuesday, the Des Moines Register reports, granting the money to the students without the state admitting wrongdoing. The lawsuit stemmed from an incident in March, 2020 where a group of trans students on an advocacy trip were prevented from using a bathroom by a state trooper.

“These individuals were exercising their constitutional and civil rights when they were singled out and removed from the Iowa Capitol solely because of their identity and their affiliation with an LGBTQ+ organization,” Devin C. Kelly, an attorney for the students, told the outlet. “At a time when LGBTQ+ Iowans and their families continue to face growing challenges, this settlement reaffirms a simple truth: all Iowans are equal under the law.”

After the trooper blocked the students, the then-executive director of the group reminded him that the Iowa Civil Rights Act encompassed gender identity, according to the original suit filed in 2022. The trooper then claimed this did not apply to bathrooms, and Iowa State Patrol forced the group of around 150 students to leave the building while allegedly not allowing them to retrieve their belongings.

The Iowa Civil Rights Act first added gender identity in 2007, banning discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations, and other aspects of life. Republicans voted to remove gender identity from the law in February, effectively legalizing discrimination against trans people.

Because the incident occurred in 2020 and the lawsuit was filed in 2022, the students still qualified for damages under the law. However, state attorney Jeffrey Peterzalek said in a letter to the State Appeal Board obtained by the Register that the students’ claims “would now not be allowed," indicating that future lawsuits could not succeed.

The state's decision to strip protections from trans people was widely denounced by legal and advocacy organizations. Fran Hutchins, executive director of Equality Federation, said in a statement at the time that “nobody should have to live in fear of discrimination simply because of who they are. We know it is wrong to be unfairly kicked out of a restaurant, denied an apartment, or denied education or health care just because someone is transgender."

“We denounce Iowa’s rollback of civil rights protections for trans people in the strongest possible terms, and call on all Americans of conscience to stand up for their LGBTQ+ friends, family, and neighbors," Hutchins said.