(Iowa Capital Dispatch) Bills removing affirmative action and police anti-bias training requirements from state law, as well as a measure that opponents said would legalize conversion therapy practices, were advanced by Senate subcommittees Thursday.
House File 2711, passed by the Iowa House earlier in March, removes several requirements for affirmative action plans and reporting from entities including the Iowa departments of Education and Administration, the judicial branch, as well as from school districts, community colleges and the state Board of Regents.
The measure also makes changes to the state’s legal requirements regarding law enforcement training. Though the House amended the measure to keep training requirements on deescalation techniques in place, it removes requirements for racial and cultural awareness training at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy and annual bias prevention training for law enforcement agencies. These were provisions approved in 2020 as a part of a bipartisan law enforcement oversight and conduct law.
Speakers at the Senate subcommittee meeting Thursday spoke in opposition to the bill, saying it would negatively impact already marginalized communities in Iowa. Tom Chapman with the Iowa Catholic Conference said the organization believed fairly administered affirmative action programs still provided a benefit to the state by helping reduce inequalities caused by historic discrimination.
He also asked lawmakers to remove the change on police anti-bias training specifically.
“I haven’t seen any evidence presented why those requirements still wouldn’t be helpful and needed, so we would say that you should not strike those requirements in the bill,” Chapman said. “I wish we could eliminate racism in the Catholic church, and in our churches in general. I wish we could eliminate racism in law enforcement, but I don’t think we’re there yet. And I think those anti-bias training should remain.”
Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner also asked her Republican colleagues to consider taking out the measures on police training requirements, saying these are “helpful tools” for law enforcement working to address needs within their specific communities.
Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, said he appreciated hearing from Weiner and Chapman about their specific concerns on the police training components. He and Sen. Adrian Dickey, R-Packwood, signed off on the measure.
Speakers share experiences of conversion therapy
Dickey, as well as Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, also signed off on House File 2557, legislation making exceptions to “child abuse” and “child endangerment” definitions in Iowa law as it relates to their child’s gender identity. The bill states a parent’s “intent to raise, guide or instruct a child in a manner consistent with the child’s sex” cannot be considered abuse, and is exempt from consideration in foster parent licensing, adoption or custody proceedings.
Acts that could not be considered abusive or disqualifying a parent from consideration include calling a child by a name or pronouns that align with the child’s assigned sex at birth, or a parent not consenting to their child receiving gender-affirming medical treatment.
However, the largest point of contention is the language in the bill stating a parent “seeking and consenting to a mental health service for a child for the purpose of helping the child live a life consistent with the child’s sex” cannot be considered abuse or endangerment. LGBTQ+ advocates and others said this language would legalize the discredited practice of conversion therapy, in which a person is subject to psychological, behavioral or physical practices aimed at altering their gender identity or sexual orientation.
The American Medical Association and other major medical and psychological professional organizations say conversion therapy is not effective in changing a person’s gender or sexuality, and leads to trauma and worse mental health outcomes for people subjected to these practices.
At the subcommittee meeting, several survivors of conversion therapy spoke in opposition to the bill.
Wes Mullins, who runs Capital City Pride, said his family placed him in conversion therapy from ages 16 to 21. He asked lawmakers to “please not hurt people the way that … I have been harmed.”
“I’m here today because I want you to understand the damage that it does to people,” Mullins said. “And there’s going to be some people in this room who haven’t gone through that therapy who will try to tell you that it doesn’t do that damage. But the most respected institution that created that type of therapy, Exodus International, closed its doors in 2013 with a statement that said, ‘We apologize to everyone we have harmed.’ And this measure is not exactly the same thing as that, but it’s sending us back down a path that we’ve already determined hurts people.”
But supporters of the measure argued conversion therapy is not referenced directly in the bill and the provision is a needed parental rights protection. Anita Fischer with the organization Protect My Innocence, alongside other advocates, said there have been cases in other states where prospective foster parents and others have faced challenges due to stating that would not affirm a transgender child’s gender identity.
“It reinforces parental rights, protects families from government overreach and ensures that parents, not the state, remain the primary decision makers in this upbringing and care for their children,” Fischer said. “While it’s not here in Iowa yet, it’s on its way. And I appreciate this bill being proactive rather than reactive.”
Chuck Hurley with the Family Leader read a letter from Jim and Diana Plorins, who have spoken in support of the measure previously, who said their Christian beliefs mean they “would not support gender transitioning,” and said their foster care license was placed on hold after a year of providing care for issues “related to our religious beliefs regarding same-sex relationships.”
Hurley said his family has also fostered 15 children, saying “if this had happened to us, we would not have been licensed as foster parents.” He said the measure is needed in order to help address the shortage of adoptive and foster parents in Iowa.
But Keenan Crow with One Iowa, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, said opponents were asking the Legislature “not to create exemptions in the child abuse code for things that are clearly abusive.”
“I want to be very clear: what this bill does is limit the application of our child abuse statutes to enable abuse as long as it is in in the name of forcing a child to conform to gender stereotypes,” Crow said. “If that wasn’t the case, this bill would not be needed. Everyone understands that basic things like calling your son, your son are not abusive, and the Iowa judiciary is fairly conservative in this regard. They’re not going to buy arguments to the contrary. The biggest concern we have is language (that) would clearly enable parents to engage in the dangerous discredited practices known as conversion therapy, which is aimed at changing the gender identity of a child. These practices, as you’ve heard, do not work and aside from being ineffective, are extremely extremely damaging.”
Dickey said he supported moving the bill forward so the full Senate Judiciary Committee could discuss the bill. However, he also stated as he looks at the bill, “I have not seen conversion therapy in the bill, I don’t see where it talks about transgender or gay issues.”
“What the issue is about as parental rights,” Dickey said. “And I think stepping on parental rights, or telling the parents they don’t have rights to raise their children, is an incredibly slippery, slippery slope to walk on. I think it is an issue that is much greater than a panel of three people to just say ‘yes or no,’ whether that should be a conversation that’s worthy of having.”
Both bills move next to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sens. Janice Weiner and Jason Schultz commented during a March 12, 2026 subcommittee meeting on a bill removing affirmative action programs from various state and local entities, as well as anti-bias training requirements for Iowa law enforcement. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
