State Sen. Matt McCoy

I led debate on the Iowa Senate vote to expand Iowa’s hate crime laws to include some of the most vulnerable Iowans.

Iowa’s hate crimes statute currently covers Iowans based on race, skin color, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation, age, disability and nationality. A senate file approved on a bipartisan vote and currently in the Iowa House adds “gender identity” and “gender expression” to Iowa’s hate crime laws. With this change, a crime against a person because of their gender identity or gender expression can be prosecuted as a hate crime.

Transgender Iowans are four times more likely to be assaulted because they are different. Bullying reports indicate that 80 percent of Iowa’s transgender kids are bullied daily at school. However, violence against transgender Iowans is an under-reported crime because of fear of retaliation and exposure, according to Judy Bradshaw, head of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

Iowa’s Civil Rights Act already includes nondiscrimination provisions for housing, accommodation and employment for gender identity among the protected classes.

STATE SEN. MATT MCCOY, D-Des Moines, represents District 21. The district includes portions of Des Moines’ south and west sides, West Des Moines and Cumming. He can be reached at 274-0561 or matt.mccoy@legis.iowa.gov.