Thank you for taking the time to contact me and share your opinion regarding HF2291. I will take this opportunity to explain my position and the intent of the legislation.

First and foremost let's be clear, neither Representative Schultz nor I are advocating or condoning the bullying or abuse of any child or adult for any reason at all! Hate crimes in general such as bullying, ridiculing or abusing another human being for any reason is unacceptable and should never be tolerated!

I have been contacted by many people accusing me of advocating for the bullying of homosexuals because of my support for HF2291, this is simply not true in any fashion. I am merely proposing that we remove the terms sexual orientation and gender identity from a portion of the Iowa Code. The assumption is that government has the ability to always decide what is right and what is wrong by making or repealing law; and by removing the terms sexual orientation and gender identity from the code that bullying and abuse will somehow become acceptable. This is a flawed assumption and should be discarded as such.

Government can only sanction or condemn what the people allow it to through the constitution and the will of the people. Removing the terms sexual orientation and gender identity will not make bullying of homosexuals or transgender people acceptable for any reason, it will still be as wrong in the future as it has been in the past before this language was ever inserted into the code.

Please keep in mind that HF2291 will only remove the terms sexual orientation and gender identity from the code, it does not require any school to remove the language from their own harassment and bullying policies. Public and non-public schools in Iowa were required to insert this language into their harassment and bullying policies when the original Safe Schools Act was passed in 2007. I am not trying to force schools to remove any language from their own policies; that decision should be left up to the schools and parents of the students.

HF2291 amends Iowa Code section 280.28, in the opening paragraph of section 280.28, subsection 2, paragraph c, the first line specifically states that; "Trait or characteristic of the student" includes but is not limited to...", what this means is that simply because HF2291 proposes to remove certain language from the section it will not in any way remove protection from any person who falls under the traits currently listed or any person who currently is not covered by the enumerated traits.

The intent of HF2291 is simple, to remove unnecessary language in the Iowa Code. You see on April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a decision on Varnum v. Brien. It was a decision that shook people and families across the state and the country. The decision by the unelected Judges was that Iowa's Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman was in the Court's opinion, unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the constitution.

In their decision the Supreme Court references Iowa Code sections in which it would appear that the legislature has accepted homosexuals as a protected class thereby recognizing homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle which is to be accepted in society. The Supreme Court also decided in their ruling that they could make new law and allow for homosexual marriage to take place in Iowa, in my opinion this is not a legitimate law and needs to be addressed by the Legislature and the people of Iowa.

The majority of Iowans I have spoken with and received correspondence from have urged me to do all I can to ensure that Iowa gets back on the right track and defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. To begin that process we must first start by removing the argument that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle under Iowa law. The reason I chose to cosponsor HF2291 is to begin the process of putting Iowa back on the right course.

In order to be clear I must say this; I do not condemn, hate or personally judge anyone who is transgender or who chooses to be homosexual, or who supports that lifestyle. I merely disagree with the argument that it is an acceptable alternative to the way God designed humanity to function. Therefore I must be true to God, my constituents and myself and politely refuse to accept homosexuality as an appropriate lifestyle.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that this clears up any misunderstandings.

Sincerely

Matt Windschitl
State Representative
Iowa House District 56
Capitol (515) 281-3221