CBS Saturday Morning was not happy at Iowa for daring to pass a law that insists that an individual’s sex is immutable. Additionally, the Hawkeye State’s decision was said to be a “civil rights reversal” as it removed “civil rights protections for transgender people.”
Guest co-host Errol Barnett began, “We begin this half hour with a civil rights reversal. Iowa's now the first state to remove civil rights protections for transgender people. Governor Kim Reynolds signed that bill Friday, just one week after it was introduced in the state legislature. As Lana Zak reports, the law, which takes effect July 1st, is already facing pushback.”
Zak began her report, which also aired the previous night on the CBS Evening News Plus streaming show, by hyping, “The unprecedented act sparked outrage as lawmakers debated hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the rotunda of the Iowa state capitol.”
Zak then teed up, “Representative Aime Wichtendahl, the state’s first openly transgender member,” who “argued this is just the start.”
Moving on to Gov. Kim Reynolds, Zak continued, “Republican lawmakers fast-tracked the bill, and Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law yesterday.”
In a split soundbite, Reynolds was first shown declaring, “It's common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women.”
Zak reported how, “It defines sex based on a person's anatomy at birth, and it removes gender identity from the state's civil rights law, which protected specific groups from discrimination. Gender identity was added alongside sexual orientation back in 2007.”
Reynolds was then shown again, insisting that, “Before I signed this bill, the civil rights code blurred the biological line between the sexes. [Jump cut] What this bill does accomplish is to strengthen protections for women and girls.”
That was a point that should’ve been explored further. There is an obvious contradiction between laws that mandate equal access to school sports and then allowing anyone who claims to be a woman to join a women’s sports team. The fact that CBS would rather pretend such contradictions don’t exist is not proof that they aren’t real, as Zak continued, “Max Mowitz is director of the advocacy group One Iowa. Mowitz says the move ends nearly two decades of state law protections for transgender Iowans like himself.”
Zak then wondered, “Why is this happening now?”
Mowitz had the generally unimpressive answer of conservatives just hate people, “I can't understand what the timing would be other than a large, widespread national trend toward transphobia and hostility toward the LGBTQ community. It's more acceptable to single us out and harm us.”
Still, Zak followed up, “Are you worried about real harm?”
Mowitz added, “Absolutely. I know that this will just move the needle further. Are we going to continue to see really horrible legislation because this is the new norm?”
Elsewhere on Saturday, ABC’s deputy political director, Averi Harper, previewed President Donald Trump’s upcoming address to Congress with similar framing on Good Morning America, “But I think there's going to be a victory lap of sorts here, particularly around President Trump's cultural agenda. Things like the dismantling of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, deportations, curtailing of rights for trans people, those are issues that resonate with conservative circles, so we’re going to see him talk about that.”
Apparently, it is a reversal of rights to acknowledge what human beings across civilizations have known for thousands of years.
Here are transcripts for the March 1 shows:
CBS Saturday Morning
3/1/2025
8:30 AM ET
ERROL BARNETT: We begin this half hour with a civil rights reversal. Iowa's now the first state to remove civil rights protections for transgender people. Governor Kim Reynolds signed that bill Friday, just one week after it was introduced in the state legislature. As Lana Zak reports, the law, which takes effect July 1st, is already facing pushback.
LANA ZAK: The unprecedented act sparked outrage—
[PROTESTORS CHANTING]
ZAK: -- as lawmakers debated hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the rotunda of the Iowa state capitol to protest the law which eliminates civil rights protections based on gender identity.
WOMAN: I feel it's mean. I feel it's hateful.
ZAK: Representative Aime Wichtendahl, the state’s first openly transgender member, argued this is just the start.
AIME WICHTENDAHL: Vote this bill down today because this is not the end. Those think tanks will ask again and again and again to remove rights and freedoms in your fellow Iowans until none remain.
ZAK: Republican lawmakers fast-tracked the bill, and Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law yesterday.
KIM REYNOLDS: It's common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women.
ZAK: It defines sex based on a person's anatomy at birth, and it removes gender identity from the state's civil rights law, which protected specific groups from discrimination. Gender identity was added alongside sexual orientation back in 2007.
REYNOLDS: Before I signed this bill, the civil rights code blurred the biological line between the sexes. [Jump cut] What this bill does accomplish is to strengthen protections for women and girls.
ZAK: Max Mowitz is director of the advocacy group One Iowa. Mowitz says the move ends nearly two decades of state law protections for transgender Iowans like himself.
Why is this happening now?
MAX MOWITZ: I can't understand what the timing would be other than a large, widespread national trend toward transphobia and hostility toward the LGBTQ community. It's more acceptable to single us out and harm us.
ZAK: Are you worried about real harm?
MOWITZ: Absolutely. I know that this will just move the needle further. Are we going to continue to see really horrible legislation because this is the new norm?
***
ABC Good Morning America
3/1/2025
7:44 PM ET
AVERI HARPER: But I think there's going to be a victory lap of sorts here, particularly around President Trump's cultural agenda. Things like the dismantling of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, deportations, curtailing of rights for trans people, those are issues that resonate with conservative circles, so we’re going to see him talk about that.
