On Saturday, June 16, the Iowa Democratic Party State Convention stood strong and unanimously passed the resolution on gender identity and gender expression nondiscrimination. You can find the full text of the resolution here.

The Convention body officially took a bold progressive position on transgender and gender non-binary equality.

The Iowa Democratic Party officially supports the following:

• the passage of laws and policies protecting the rights, legal benefits, and privileges of people of all gender identities and expressions;
• full access to employment, medical and mental health care, housing, education, and restrooms regardless of gender identity and expression;
• encourages legal and social recognition of transgender and gender non-binary individuals consistent with their gender identity and expression, including access to identity documents consistent with their gender identity and expression which do not involuntarily disclose their status as gender non-binary or transgender;
• calls upon public and private insurers to cover gender transition treatments for appropriately evaluated individuals; and
• amending the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic Party of the United States to ensure the full inclusion and non-discrimination of gender non-binary and transgender people so that they are not forced to choose between a binary gender of man or woman to run for Party offices such as State Central Committee or Democratic National Committee person.

The Convention also amended the Party Constitution to include all persons regardless of gender identity or expression. Specifically, the Convention amended the State Party Constitution to provide for the election of non-binary, agender, and genderqueer persons to Party offices.

Before the amendments, only people who identify as man or woman were allowed to be elected to Party offices. This does stand in opposition to the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic Party of the United States.

Additionally, the Convention adopted a platform that endorses LGBTQIA+ and progressive issues.

The following are the progressive platform planks that were adopted at the Convention:

• We support:
  • Paris Climate Accords
  • electric-vehicle infrastructure
  • “living wage” replacing minimum wage
  • expanding Davis-Bacon Act to include publicly-funded projects
  • Dodd-Frank
  • 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act
  • national universal basic income
  • eliminating Social Security wage cap
  • taxing high-frequency trading
  • breaking up “too-big-to-fail” banks
  • minimum 6% Supplemental State Aid (SSA) for PreK-12 education
  • post-secondary programs tuition and debt free for at least 4 years, including vocational programs, regent state universities, and community colleges
  • state mandates requiring all public schools include instruction in physical, mental health, and sex-positive and comprehensive and research-based sexual and health programs (including LGBTQIA+)
  • student-loan forgiveness
  • 100% tax-deductible interest on post-secondary loans
  • automatic and same-day voter registration
  • legalizing cannabis
  • an updated version of the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, restricting: silencers and suppressors, bump-stocks, high capacity magazines, and fragmentary-rounds
  • mandatory safety and proficiency training
  • firearm transfer universal background checks
  • state and federal DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans), DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), TVDL (Temporary Visitor’s Driver’s License), and UAFA (Uniting American Families Act)
  • undocumented immigrant Driver’s License and vehicle registration
  • comprehensive, universal, single-payer healthcare for all
  • transgender healthcare
  • medical end-of-life options
  • full-service VA healthcare for LGBTQIA+
  • equal rights for LGBTQIA+ residents in all areas
  • all-gender restrooms
  • protection of all genders’ rights from discrimination/harassment/retaliation
  • expanding gender options, including opt-out, on government forms
  • ending violence against woman and sexual/gender minorities, including genital mutilation/honor killings/forced marriage/rape/property confiscation
  • equal human rights/health/welfare for Palestinians and Israelis
  • right to return/just compensation for displaced Palestinians
  • rights of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions)
  • Palestinian statehood/UN membership
  • peaceful efforts to achieve separate secure Israeli and Palestinian states respecting the rights of all persons
• We oppose:
  • open-carry
  • discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people
  • sex-assignment surgeries at birth for intersex people
  • religious exemptions to anti-discrimination laws, including LGBTQIA+ protections
  • racial/religious/sexual orientation/gender identity persecution

I would like to thank everyone who was able to attend the Convention and who advocated for and voted for the amendments, resolution, and platform.