On Jan. 28, 2025, Iowa State Representative Helena Hayes introduced House File 80 (HF80). This bill addresses how teachers are allowed to refer to queer students in the classroom. While some see it as a protection for educators, others, including queer advocates, fear it could harm students’ mental health. 

In Iowa, according to the Williams Institute, under four percent of the population identifies as queer across all age demographics, an even smaller percentage are current K-12 students. Last year there were approximately 40 bills introduced into the Iowa House and Senate regarding queer people and queer youth in schools reports One Iowa. One Iowa is a statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy organization focused on advancing equality and justice for LGBTQ individuals in Iowa.

“There is a very high number of bills in both the Senate and the House of Representatives that directly relate to transgender, queer, and gender nonconforming students. I think this is hilarious in a terrifying way that this is what they are choosing to focus on and it’s because they fear what they don’t understand,” Executive Director of Iowa Queer Student Alliance (Iowa QSA) and activist Jemma Bullock said. 

HF80 would restrict the action that school districts can take against staff and students who disregard the use of personal pronouns or preferred names in Iowa schools. 

“HF80 intends to remove disciplinary action for students and teachers who deadname other students or teachers,” Greyson Shonka, a senior at Bondurant-Farrar High School said. 

Perspectives on this bill range from being hopeful over the opportunity to protect the jobs of teachers and staff that make minor mistakes when referring to students, to being concerned about how this bill could be used harmfully through specific loopholes. 

Bullock says that HF80 would impact the mental health of queer students around the entire state. 

“Queer students are so much [more] susceptible to bullying. They are more likely to experience bullying in their life,” Bullock said. “And the mental repercussions of living in a world where you can go to school and have your identity completely thrown away are devastating.” 

One senior from Bondurant-Farrar High School recently spoke to the subcommittee handling HF80 at the Iowa Capitol building. Greyson Shonka is a community leader in the LGBTQ+ community serving on the Planned Parenthood Teen Council, Iowa QSA, and leads the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) at Bondurant-Farrar High School. 

“I think there is a sort of fear among trans students about whether or not they will be accepted because when you are trying to come out or when you are trying to use a preferred name or pronouns it’s kind of hard to hide that or to hide being trans,” Shonka stated. “So there’s already that worry and then this bill makes it so teachers are allowed to use the wrong name if they want to, which is scary to trans youth who need that support.”

Furthermore, a student’s right to be respected by their peers and role models might not be protected specifically in foreign language classes according to House File 88 (HF88). HF88 covers many changes in both public and homeschooling curriculum, but targets how queer students are treated in world language classes. 

“Any classroom setting where any student feels targeted or not accepted in any form, not just queer students, if any student feels that way it discourages them from wanting to actively learn and engage with what’s going on,” Bullock said. “To take away something as simple as using gender-neutral and gender-inclusive language is not only harmful, but also not comprehensive of the language as a whole.” 

Representative Hayes shares a different perspective, as the lawmaker who introduced HF80, she discusses why she and her colleagues believe that bills like HF80 and HF88 are needed in Iowa. 

“We have had instances where staff and teachers have been disciplined in various forms because they have used a name of a child that they’ve known for years, probably somebody that [they] even watched grow up and they request a name change, usually because of a gender change, and the teacher with their struggles with that have been disciplined by referring to them in what they’ve always known as their previous name,” Hayes stated. 

From mental health worries to protections for teachers, the views on HF80 differ dramatically from those of community leaders in opposition of the bill, to legislators who continue to vote for HF80 in Iowa law. LGBTQ+ students and what their lives look like in the classroom have been discussed frequently by Iowa legislators for the past few years, and are seemingly, likely to continue with new bills being introduced weekly.

“[Iowa] used to be ranked one of the top education systems in the country and we have fallen, and instead of focusing on things that are actually causing student mental health decline, burnout, exhaustion, they find a different problem,” Bullock stated. “They are focusing so much of their time and energy into making legislation that relates to [queer students] instead of the bigger picture.”