Hey everybody and welcome to Outward Slate's podcast about LGBTQ life, culture and politics. I'm Brian Lauder. I'm an editor at Slate,

and this week will be focused on that last area because I know I don't have to tell you this.

The American government has really been pushing it on us these last few months to say the least.

Specifically, we'll consider a state-level bill in Iowa called HF 2082 that was signed into law at the end of February

that did something shocking and very much not in a good way. The legislation, which was introduced

by right-wing culture crusader, Representative Stephen Holt, removed gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act,

where it had been a category protected alongside

others like race and disability all the way back to 2007. The law also, following in the wake of

Trump's similar executive order, redefined legal gender as strictly binary, you know,

just male and female, based on reproductive anatomy identified at birth, which, as we've been covering on the show,

has the effect of making it impossible for the government to recognize the gender diversity of the

real world and official documents and publications and formal discourse. But the real headline here

is the revocation clearly due to prejudice of rights and protections that had already been granted

to a marginalized group.

Now, this is a frightening new frontier in the anti-trans and queer backlash we're living through,

and the law's passage will surely act as encouragement to other states to give the same move a shot,

and it may trigger constitutional challenges that will eventually make it up to the Supreme Court,

which, as we know, is very conservative at the moment. It's worth noting that queer and trans-Iowans did not let this happen without a fight. Thousands of protesters gathered at the state capital against the laws passed. They continue to speak out about the impact the change will have on their lives, including forcing many to consider leaving the state entirely and the run-up to the date it goes into effect, which is July 1st. To understand those impacts and to get some context for the strategy behind this bill, as well as to see where it fits into the broader sweep of American civil rights history, I'm joined today by two guests, both of whom have made careers dedicated to LGBTQ and racial justice, Dr. David Johns and Hope Giselle Godzi. You'll definitely want to hear what they have to say about what this bill means for Iowa and for the rest of the nation.

So stay with us.

Thank you. All right. We are back. First, we have Hope Gizelle Godzi. Hope is a nationally recognized organizer, author, and activist dedicated to trans advocacy, racial justice, and workplace inclusion. She is the founder

of the AllowMe movement, the training director at Get Fluid, and has worked with organizations

like NASA, the HRC, and trans tech social to amplify marginalized voices. We're lucky to have her on the show today. Hope,

...