Des Moines, Feb 28 (AP) The Iowa Senate approved a bill Thursday that will strip gender identity protections from the state's civil rights code, sending the proposal to the Iowa House for possible final approval.

The Senate's passage came only about a week after the bill was introduced. It raced through the legislative process despite opposition from LGBTQ+ advocates who repeatedly rallied at the Capitol. The House is expected to approve the bill later Thursday, sending it to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has been supportive of efforts to limit gender identity protections.

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The bill changes Iowa's civil rights law, which now protects against discrimination based on race, color, creed, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin or disability status.

Sexual orientation and gender identity were not originally included in the state's Civil Rights Act of 1965. They were added by the Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2007, also with the support of about a dozen Republicans across the two chambers.

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The current bill's supporters say that was a mistake. They argue that it incorrectly codified the idea that people can transition to another gender and granted transgender women access to spaces such as bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that should be protected for people who were assigned female at birth.

The Iowa bill would be the first legislative action removing explicit nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity, said Logan Casey, director of policy research at the Movement Advancement Project. (AP)

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