Hundreds of Iowa Students Staged a “We Say Gay” School Walkout

Hundreds of Iowa students walked out of school as part of a “We Say Gay” protest to speak out against the state’s proposed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation on Wednesday. 

The protest was organized by Iowa WTF and the Iowa Queer Student Alliance, both coalitions of high school student organizers. Organizers told the Des Moines Register that students at 47 schools across Iowa walked out on Wednesday. Thus far, at least 29 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced during this year’s legislative session, according to the legislative tracking of One Iowa Action. Those include bills that would force school employees to out trans students to their parents, bills that would ban mentions of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms up to eighth grade, a resolution that would revise the Iowa constitution to effectively ban same-sex marriage, and more. 

A press release from Iowa WTF called these bills “hateful, oppressive, and un-patriotic legislation that serves to diminish the freedoms of all Iowans.”

“Iowan legislators, it is time to pay attention to what are [sic] youth really want,” the press release reads. 

Jemma Bullock, a member of the Iowa Queer Student Alliance and a senior at Ankeny High School, told NBC News that the walkouts “are trying to make it so that it’s impossible for those in power to ignore us.” 

“Because right now, there are people who are going to the Capitol and attending those public hearings about these bills — they have been teachers, psychiatrists, doctors, students, parents, administrators, all sorts of people who come and say, ‘This is harmful. This will have bad effects. This will cause bullying, it will cause depression and anxiety and it will not be safe for the LGBTQ+ community in our schools,’” Bullock said. “And they just will not listen.” 

Some didn’t just walk out of class; students at East High School in the capital city of Des Moines marched to the Iowa Capitol building, just over half a mile away, to chant “we say gay” and wave rainbow flags and protest signs. 

Also in Des Moines, an estimated 400 students from Central Academy marched to the governor’s mansion. 

Students in Iowa City walked to the Old Capitol, a former Iowa government building, to speak out against the bills. During the 1.4 mile walk, protesters also chanted “we say gay” and hoisted pride flags, according to video posted by George Shillcock, a reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. 

It's 2023 and Iowa Lawmakers Are Trying to Ban Same-Sex Marriage 

The change would mean Iowa only recognizes marriages between “one human biological male and one human biological female.”

The Des Moines Register noted that these walkouts took place one day after Republican legislators introduced a ban on transition-related care for trans youth, as well as a bill that would ban trans students from using the bathrooms that align with their gender. 

Iowa is but one state of dozens that have introduced similar anti-LGBTQ+, and mainly anti-trans, bills this year. According to the legislative tracking of independent researchers Allison Chapman, Alejandra Caraballo, and Erin Reed, over 400 such bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country. 

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