WE ARE FINALLY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

IOWANS BELIEVE THAT HATE HAS NO HOME IN THEIR STATE; PHOTO BY COLBY CAMPBELL

February 28, 2025, that was the day that Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed Act Senate File 418. This particular act does a multitude of things, the most major points being the removal of gender identity protections, one's birth sex on birth certificates, changes in school curriculum such as changing “gender identity” to “gender theory”, and more. Some helpful background information on Kim Reynolds is that she is 65 years old, was born and lives in Iowa, is the 43rd governor of Iowa (serving since 2017), is part of the Republican party, and lastly a fun fact is that she is the FIRST female governor in Iowa. This fun fact is quite ironic because it is quite progressive which is the complete opposite ideology many Republicans share, as very well shown in the act that was mentioned previously. Going back, as of now what we know is that the Act Senate File 418 is planned to go into action on July 1, 2025. But as of right now how does even the thought of this act and similar acts going into action affect the people being affected, and those close to them?

Personally, as a person with the majority of their friends being affected by the choices of Republican Politicians, I feel both scared and helpless. Scared that I have to withhold information because something bad could happen to them or scared that one day I am going to come to school and not see them. With that I feel helpless, like I can't do anything, this is because I am not affected and can't relate to them. All I feel I can do is support them and listen to them. 

For the people in the same situation or even the people who are affected there are still things we can do. We can do peaceful protests, we can go to meetings, share our voice and listen to the voices of others, we can join groups/ communities whether they be online or in person, and more. On the same note on April 11th there will be the Governor's Conference on LGBTQ+ Youth, which is held annually by the organization UAY. While none of these options are solutions to what's happening in the world, they provide community, which is one of the best things to many of the people struggling during these hard times.

Many Republican Politicians go into making these laws wanting to erase people who aren't like them, who don't check a majority of the boxes such as being white, cis-gendered, straight, and religious. 

Public service announcement, to the people making these or who wholeheartedly believe in these unjust laws and acts, just because you want to and attempt to erase a group of people does not make you successful in doing so. For example, let's say you answer a question on a test and you answer it wrong, undoubtedly you instinctively go to erase it. No matter how much you erase the paper the penciled-in circle around the wrong answer, it is still there, just fainter. This analogy correlates with the people current politicians are trying to erase with just this act alone. While trying to push them to the back, trying to make them disappear, they are people and they are still there no matter how faint their existence is to you.