Iowa LGBT Laws

In 2003, the state of Iowa agreed to extend health and dental benefits to domestic partners, including gay and lesbian couples, under a two-year contract with state workers that took effect 01 July [R1.1].

Since July 2000, employees at Iowa’s public universities have had this benefit [R1.1].

In 2001, Iowa City offered domestic-partner benefits to municipal employees for seven years [R2.1] and had a registry.

There is no State-wide anti-discrimination legislation.

In January 2003, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission supported a bill in the state Legislature that would if passed add sexual orientation to the state’s current discrimination law and afford protection from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation, education and credit practices [R1.5].

In March 2001, Iowa governor Tom Vilsack issued another executive order designed to protect state employees from discrimination [R1.4].

Previously

In December 2000, the Court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his authority in siging an executive order banning discrimination.

See 3. Courts & Tribunals below.

In April 2000, the Governor promptly vetoed the Bill that sought to repeal the Governor’s earlier executive order [R1.3].

In April 2000, the House sought to have the Governor’s executive order repealed [R1.2].

In October 1999, Governor Tom Vilsak signed an executive order banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity among state workers, the first such order in the nation to cover transgendered people [R1.1].

In February 2006, Dubuque city council approved the addition of sexual orientation as a protected characteristic under the city’s human rights ordinance [R2.4].

In July 2001, Des Moines joined Ames, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Davenport in adding a sexual orientation clause to their antidiscrimination ordinances [R2.3].

In March 2000, Davenport became the fourth Iowa city to extend civil rights protection based on sexual orientation. The ordinance prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in matters of employment, housing, public accommodations and credit [R2.2].

In January 1999, the Cedar Rapids City Council voted to add sexual orientation to the city’s civil rights ordinance protecting homosexuals, bisexuals and heterosexuals from discrimination in education, credit, employment, housing and public accommodation [R2.1].

On 08 May 2019 it was reported that former Iowa State University Elyn Fritz-Waters settled her discrimination claim against the university alleging her employee health insurance denied care for gender dysphoria, which included her request for hormone therapy and a sex reassignment surgery. The State Appeal Board approved the $27,000 settlement [R3.7].

On 13 February 2019, an Iowa District Court jury decided (in Vroegh v. Iowa Department of Corrections No. LACL138797) that Iowa prison warden Patti Wachtendorf discriminated against transgender employee Jesse Vroegh by denying him the use of men’s restrooms and locker rooms [R3.6].

On 06 February 2019, US District Judge Stephanie M Rose ruled that Christian club Business Leaders in Christ is within its rights to deny leadership positions to LGBTQ students. The club previously barred a student from holding a leadership position in the group after they found out he was gay [C3.5], [R3.4].

On 23 January 2018, US District Judge Stephanie M Rose granted a Motion for Preliminary Injunction and ordered the University to restore the Business Leaders in Christ to registered student organization status for ninety days. The University determined had BLinC violated the University’s Policy on Human Rights by refusing to accept gay students in leadership roles in the BLinC [C3.3], [R3.2].

In December 2000, Polk County Judge Glenn Pille ruled that Governor Tom Vilsack overstepped his authority when he issued an executive order last year forbidding discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transsexuals in state government [R3.1].

On 03 May 2019, Governor Kim Reynolds reportedly signed a budget bill (SB0016) containing a provision that allows local governments or state agencies to refuse to use public dollars, including Medicaid funds, for transition-related surgeries for transgender people [R1.2].

On 27 April 2019, Iowa lawmakers reportedly approved a health and human services appropriations bill (SB0016) containing a provision that would allow government entities to opt out of using public insurance dollars, including Medicaid, to pay for transition-related surgeries. The legislation will overrule a March decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found that the Hawkeye State’s Medicaid program may not discriminate against transgender people by refusing to cover the costs of any gender confirmation surgery that has been deemed medically necessary [R1.1].

On 08 May 2019 it was reported that former Iowa State University Elyn Fritz-Waters settled her discrimination claim against the university alleging her employee health insurance denied care for gender dysphoria, which included her request for hormone therapy and a sex reassignment surgery. The State Appeal Board approved the $27,000 settlement [R2.6].

On 08 March 2019, the Supreme Court of Iowa ruled Iowa Medicaid denying gender-affirming, medically necessary surgery to someone simply because they are transgender is discriminatory and in violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act [C2.5], [R2.4].

On 13 February 2019, an Iowa District Court jury decided (in Vroegh v. Iowa Department of Corrections No. LACL138797) that Iowa prison warden Patti Wachtendorf discriminated against transgender employee Jesse Vroegh by denying him the use of men’s restrooms and locker rooms [R2.3].

On 07 June 2018, Judge Arthur Gamble in the District Court for Polk County ruled the state cannot deny transgender women Carol Ann Beal and Eerieanna Good, Medicaid coverage for sex reassignment surgery [C2.2], [R2.1]

In February 2001, a Polk County jury determined that two men accused of jeering at two drag queens last summer were not guilty of a hate crime [R1.1].

On 08 May 2019 it was reported that former Iowa State University Elyn Fritz-Waters settled her discrimination claim against the university alleging her employee health insurance denied care for gender dysphoria, which included her request for hormone therapy and a sex reassignment surgery. The State Appeal Board approved the $27,000 settlement [R1.3].

On 03 May 2019, Governor Kim Reynolds reportedly signed a budget bill (SB0016) containing a provision that allows local governments or state agencies to refuse to use public dollars, including Medicaid funds, for transition-related surgeries for transgender people [R1.2].

On 27 April 2019, Iowa lawmakers reportedly approved a health and human services appropriations bill (SB0016) containing a provision that would allow government entities to opt out of using public insurance dollars, including Medicaid, to pay for transition-related surgeries. The legislation will overrule a March decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found that the Hawkeye State’s Medicaid program may not discriminate against transgender people by refusing to cover the costs of any gender confirmation surgery that has been deemed medically necessary [R1.1].

On 08 March 2019, the Supreme Court of Iowa ruled Iowa Medicaid denying gender-affirming, medically necessary surgery to someone simply because they are transgender is discriminatory and in violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act [C2.4], [R2.3].

On 07 June 2018, Judge Arthur Gamble in the District Court for Polk County ruled the state cannot deny transgender women Carol Ann Beal and Eerieanna Good, Medicaid coverage for sex reassignment surgery [C2.2], [R2.1]

On 30 May 2014, Governor Terry Branstad signed Senate File 2297 softening the punishment by making liable people who intend to transmit HIV or other infectious deseases without another person’s knowledge or consent. Since 1998, Iowans living with HIV who knowingly exposed another person “in a manner that could result in the transmission” could be convicted of a felony and face up to 25 years in prison [L1.4], [R1.3].

On 01 May 2014, the legislature passed Senate File 2297, a measure lessening the penalties for people who unknowingly expose someone to HIV with no intention of infecting them and making people eligible for 25 year sentences only if they intend to transmit a disease without someone’s knowledge. The measure has yet to be signed by the Governor [R1.2].

In April 2004, the VA Medical Center in Iowa City took steps to consider an HIV-positive Illinois veteran who needed a liver transplant, against the federal Department of Veterans Affairs policy prohibiting organ transplants for those infected with HIV [R1.1].

On 13 June 2014, the Iowa Supreme Court majority overturned a guilty plea and conviction for Nick (Clayton) Rhoades for violating the state’s HIV-specific law finding, “ … we are unable to take judicial notice that an infected individual can transmit HIV when an infected person engages in protected anal sex with another person or unprotected oral sex, regardless of the infected person’s viral load …” [C2.8], [R2.7].

On 02 October 2013, the Court of Appeals of Iowa ruled Nick Rhoades’ conviction for criminal transmission of HIV will stand, as his acts met the requirements for the crime. The Court cited a 2001 Iowa Supreme Court case, State v. Keene [C2.6], [R2.5].

On 11 September 2013, the Court of Appeals heard arguments in the appeal for post-conviction relief in the case of Nick Rhoades v. State of Iowa [R2.4].

In March 2010, Rhoades petitioned for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. In December 2011, the court denied his petition.

On September 11, 2009, Judge Bradley J Harris ended the prison sentence of Nick Rhoades, putting him on five years probation [R2.3].

On 01 May 2009, Nick Clayton Rhoades pleaded guilty to criminal HIV transmission, despite the fact that HIV transmission did not occur and that the opportunity for transmission was a first-time consensual sexual encounter between two gay men ­ a situation in which potential for HIV transmission should be assumed by both parties just out of common sense. He was sentenced by Judge Bradley J Harris to 25 years in prison and lifetime parole [R2.3].

In July 2003, the trial of Aaron James Dahlberg, charged with having sex with an Iowa man without telling him he was HIV positive was set to begin [R2.2].

Previously:

In January 2001, it was alleged that Aaron James Dahlberg lied to a sex partner about his HIV status before having unprotected anal sex and he was facing felony criminal charges for possibly transmitting the virus [R2.1].

On 27 April 2009, Iowa began processing same-sex marriage applications. Marriages are only allowed to take place from 30 April because the state requires a three-day waiting period [R1.5].

On 03 April 2009, the Supreme Court ruled [C2.4] that the Iowa Code, Section 595.2 was unconstitutional.

See 2. Courts & Tribunals below.

On 01 February 2011, the House voted 62–37 in favour of House Joint Resolution 6 that proposes a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality. The House judiciary committee, earlier passed the resolution by a vote of 13–8 [R1.4].

On 27 January 2011, Senators voted 26–24 along party lines, blocking a constitutional amendment measure banning same-sex marriage from going to the voters. A house committee had voted to advance the measure to the full House [R1.3].

On 09 February 2010, Republican lawmakers failed to garner enough support to bring a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage to the floor of the Iowa legislature [R1.2].

Previously:

In 1998, an anti-gay marriage bill was adopted after two previous attempts failed.

The Iowa Code, Section 595.2: “Only a marriage between a male and female is valid” [R1.1]

On 17 October 2012, Grundy County Deputy Clerk of Court Brigitte Van Nice was reportedly charged with two counts of forgery and one count of perjury arising out of her allegedly filing a marriage certificate falsely claiming she had officiated at the wedding of Joab Penney, 28, of Williston and his former partner, Joseph Parker from Florida on Valentines day, and that there were two female witnesses to the ceremony, despite never having met the men, who had never travelled to Iowa for a ceremony [R2.5].

On 03 April 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court held in Varnum v Obrien [C2.4] that the Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution [R2.4].

Previously:

In December 2005, the gay advocacy group Lambda Legal announced that it is suing the state of Iowa on behalf of six same-sex couples seeking the right to marry across the state [R2.3].

In June 2005, the Iowa supreme court refused to tamper with a lower-court decision that dissolved the civil union of two women, saying the conservative plaintiffs who sued were not harmed and had no standing in the case [R2.2].

Previously:

On 14 November 2003, District Judge Jeffrey A. Neary, granted the dissolution of a civil union in the Woodbury County District Court without a hearing. Both parties had a stipulated agreement, and Neary signed the dissolution decree before realizing the relationship he was ending involved two women [R2.1].

Iowa law does not bar adoptions by gay people. It says simply that people who may adopt can be unmarried adults, a “husband and wife together” or stepparents [R1.3].

Iowa law does not bar the fostering of children by gay people [R1.2].

In 1996, the Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association awarded its Foster Parents of the year award for the Des Moines region to a gay couple, prompting calls that lesbians and gay men should not be allowed to foster or adopt [R1.1].

On 15 August 2017, Rachel and Heidi McFarland were reportedly awarded $3.25M by a jury for emotional distress caused by their attorney Jason Rieper who negligently failed to obtain a release of custody document signed by birth mother Markeya Atkins to complete formal adoption of baby Gabriel McFarland. The baby was returned to Atkins and subsequently murdered by his father Drew James Weehler-Smith, 17, on 22 April 2014. Weehler-Smith pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January 2015 and received a 50-year prison sentence [R2.11].

On 03 May 2013, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Heather Martin Gartner and Melissa Gartner v. Iowa Department of Public Health that the department of health in the state must name both same-sex spouses as parents, on a child’s birth certificate [C2.10], [R2.9]. See also [R2.1] – [R2.5].

On 12 December 2012, District Judge Robert Hutchinson in the Polk County Court ordered a child’s death certificate to list both same-sex parents names, noting same-sex couples should be afforded the same rights as biological or adoptive parents [C2.8], [R2.7].

On 26 October 2012, Judge Robert Hutchison in the District Court for Polk County heard arguments in Jessica Marie Buntemeyer and Jennifer Lee Buntmeyer v. Iowa Department of Public Health No. CV 9041, seeking a new death certificate for their stillborn child as the issued certificate omitted Jenny Buntemeyer’s name [R2.6].

On 06 February 2012, the Attorney General Tom Miller’s office filed a short notice with the court saying the Iowa Department of Public Health “appeals to the Supreme Court of Iowa from the final ruling in Heather Martin Gartner & Melissa Gartner v. Iowa Department of Public Health on 04 January 2012.” [R2.5].

Previously:

On 04 January 2012, in the Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Eliza J Ovrum concluded pursuant to Varnum v. Brien, where a married woman gives birth to a baby conceived through use of an anonymous sperm donor, the Department of Public Health should place her same-sex spouse’s name on the child’s birth certificate without requiring the spouse to go through an adoption proceeding [C2.4], [R2.3].

On 07 November 2011, Iowa District Judge Eliza Ovrom heard arguments to list both married same-sex partners as parents on the birth certificate of their daughter. She will issue a written ruling at a later date [R2.2].

In February 2011, Heather Lynn Martin Gartner, 39 (the biological mother and the sole parent listed on the girl’s birth certificate), and Melissa McCoy Gartner, 40, of Des Moines, refiled a lawsuit against the Iowa Department of Public Health in an effort to have both their names placed on their daughter’s birth certificate. Heather and Melissa Gartner were legally married in Polk County three months before the girl was born. Their original suit was dismissed on a technicality [R2.1].

On 07 June 2013, a Council Bluffs Iowa jury found employees or agents of Council Bluffs property management company New Life Multi-Family Management, LLC harassed and discriminated against two tenants and awarded $147,000 in damages ($22,000 in economic damages and $50,000 in emotional distress damages and $75,000 in punitive damages) [R1.1].