Heavy Week at Iowa Capitol

This week will be a very heavy week at the Iowa Capitol, as the Iowa Legislature will be considering a bill that removes gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Code. The week will include multiple committee hearings and public hearings on the matter.

In this email, we have two requests for you to consider as well as information on the legislation.

Pray.

• For all of our legislators regardless of where they stand on this issue. Also, please pray for the thousands of people on both sides of the issue that will be at the Iowa Capitol.
  

• This issue is a major stronghold as it is so personal, and the enemy has convinced us that our identity is found in our sexual desires and emotions.
  

• Please pray for the truth of the Gospel to shine throughout the Capitol to both those for and against this bill. Pray that the Lord's people would gently communicate truth with grace. (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

  
  

• Pray for captives to be set free.

History behind the legislation:

In 2007, the Iowa Legislature added gender identity and sexual orientation to the Iowa Civil Rights Code. The Iowa Civil Rights Act was originally passed in 1965, as the nation passed the U.S. Civil Rights Act. The purpose of the Act was to end the Jim Crow Era and begin enforcing what the 14th Amendment was intended to accomplish when it was passed in 1868. As you remember in history class and/or experience, access to schools, bathrooms and employment were not equal for our African American brothers and sisters or many others. The Iowa Civil Rights Code is good, and many Christians worked towards its passage. When sexual orientation and gender identity were added, it classified gender identity and sexual orientation in the same class as an individual’s race, granting the same legal protections.

The Iowa Civil Rights Code:

The Iowa Civil Rights Act is Iowa Code Chapter 216. It prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and credit. The Iowa Civil Rights Commission enforces the act.

The Civil Rights Code currently prohibits discrimination based on race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, or national origin.

HSB 242 removes gender identity from the list.

We have taken the above Prayer Points and information from an email call to prayer from Church Ambassador Network, to share with you the need for prayer this week for our State Legislatures.