The Ames City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing and education based on an individual’s gender identity. It comes about a year after the state removed gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which sparked some cities to adopt resolutions affirming local protections.
Ames City Council members approved the local ordinance in a 5-1 vote. The lone dissenter was council member Tim Gartin, who raised concerns about a bill that an Iowa House subcommittee advanced Monday.
The bill (HSB 664), which was proposed by the governor, would ban local governments, like the City of Ames, from adopting broader protections than the state law outlines.
“At a time when cities desperately need to reset the relationship with the Legislature — who holds all the cards, with respect to property taxes — I think it would be prudent, given the interest they have in at least exploring this bill, to pause our efforts on this to see what the Legislature does,” Gartin said.
Council member Amber Corrieri said the city should add a local gender identity protection now even if state lawmakers are likely to pass the bill.
“Here’s the thing, I don’t think there’s a single person up here that doesn’t believe the Legislature is going to pass this legislation,” Corrieri said. “I’m not sure why, when it comes to actually protecting people from discrimination — all people, not just a certain subset of them — why we would set that aside to try to build a relationship with a group of people who have shown absolutely no interest in building a relationship with us.”
Council member Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, who supported the ordinance, said she does not want to bend to what she sees as bullying behavior from state lawmakers.
“I think, as we face a state government that is increasingly inserting its control of our every move, I believe that it is important to make Ames’ stance on this issue clear,” Beatty-Hansen said.
The city’s new ordinance goes into effect Saturday. Fines for first-time violations are set at $750, with $1,000 for repeat offenses.
Iowa City and Coralville adopted similar resolutions affirming local protections for gender identity last year.
