Iowa high school students walk out to protest state law banning transgender women from sports

More than 100 high school students at Central Academy in Des Moines, Iowa, walked out of class on March 11, 2022, to protest a state law banning transgender women and girls from participating in sports at the K-12 and college level. Des Moines Public Schools supported the walkout as an exercise of Free Speech for the students, but noted they would be counted as absent from their classes. 

Key Players

Des Moines Public Schools, the administrative body for the state capital’s public school district, oversees 64 schools and has an enrollment of just over 31,000 students. Central Academy is listed as Advanced Placement-focused. 

Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) assumed office in 2017, rising from the role of lieutenant governor and winning election to a full term in 2018. The first female governor of Iowa, Reynolds is a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and delivered the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1, 2022. 

Further Details

As the capital city of Iowa, Des Moines leans somewhat liberal. Previously, students had protested via walkout for various reasons. 

In April 2021, Des Moines public school students walked out of class to protest HF 802, an education bill ordering that racism and sexism sensitivity training in the schools not include “divisive concepts.” In September 2021, in the Des Moines suburb of Winterset, over 100 students staged a walkout after a teacher was placed on administrative leave for coming out as bisexual, the Des Moines Register reported.

And it was in Des Moines, in the 1960s, that high school and younger students protested the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to school, leading to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Tinker case in 1969 endorsing their right to do so.

On March 3, 2022, Gov. Reynolds signed HF 2416, a bill that bans transgender women and girls from playing on a school sports team that fits their gender identity, the Los Angeles Blade reported.  

Per KCCI News, the law applies to public and nonpublic schools, community colleges, private colleges, Board of Regents institutions, and any institution that is a member of the NCAA, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, or National Junior College Athletic Association.

Additionally, the law requires schools to list all sponsored athletic events as men’s, women’s, or co-education sports. Athletes are only eligible to play on girls’ and women’s teams if female is the listed sex on their birth certificate. 

On March 9, 2022, Ethan Stein, a KCRG reporter, tweeted that students in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had walked out of class to protest the law.

Outcome

Students march and voice solidarity, Reynolds celebrates

The March 11 walkout at Central Academy in Des Moines, following Cedar Rapids’ lead, included a march to the governor’s mansion, KCCI reported. Some of the protesters carried posters criticizing the legislation or advocating for trangender rights. 

Esra Noor, a Central Academy student, told KCCI, “I’m very sad to see that our Gov. Kim Reynolds signed that bill.” 

“I wanted to show that it’s wrong,” Kira Winters, another student, said. “All people of all races, ethnicities, sexualities and genders deserve rights.”

Reynolds, on the other hand, called the new legislation a “victory for girls sports in Iowa.” 

Central Academy promotes walkout, counts students absent for missing class

Central Academy tweeted on the day of the walkout, publicizing the event.  

“Students walked out of classes for an hour today to protest the new law prohibiting trans girls from playing sports on girls’ teams,” the tweet reads. “They marched in cold weather to the governor’s mansion and back a couple of times and chanted outside the school to draw attention to their cause.” According to KCCI, the district noted that students who participated in the walkout would be considered absent. Per its attendance policy, DMPS high schoolers “shall not be absent more than two days due to an unexcused absence in any school year” and excessive absences may result in “disciplinary action.”