Our partnerships make our work possible. The State LGBT+ Business Climate Index is financially supported by a grant from the Gill Foundation. The Index is based on data graciously shared by the Movement Advancement Project and the Williams Institute. Ropes & Gray is our pro bono legal partner for the CEO Business Briefs globally, and their research informs this Index. FCB partnered with us to conduct original market research into American attitudes toward LGBT+ workplace inclusion, informing the Regional Context section of the State CEO Briefs. America Competes supported the development of the scoring for the Risk Assessments detailed below, particularly for the Future Risk score.

Out Leadership and FCB partnered on original market research into the attitudes of American workers on LGBT+ inclusion, which fielded in March and April 2019. The full results will be launched in September 2019; we are able to share preliminary regional comparisons in this brief.

Only 50.8% of LGBT+ workers in the Midwest are out at work. They are only slightly more comfortable being open with their managers than other regions (14% more likely), but they are the least likely to cover their identity at work (17% less likely than nationwide).  This could be due to the Midwest having the lowest rates for observing microaggressions (23% less likely) and hearing or engaging in negative conversations on average. However, workers in this region do not typically go out of their way to do business with inclusive companies (21% less likely than the nation as a whole).  This is primarily driven by those who live in more rural areas where respondents were 85% less likely to do business with companies that are inclusive.

Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons for more or less likely are compared to the National results.  Regional results are based off of 1,500 respondents (LGBT+ and Non-LGBT+ responses have been weighted to be age-representative for each audience in each region).  National results are based off of 600 respondents representative of each audience (LGBT+ vs Non-LGBT+).

States in the Midwest region included: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin

Legal status of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community

• – Iowa law currently prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations, education and certain economic activities.
• – Iowa law prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. State employees receive the same protections, as the state of Iowa is explicitly included in the definition of “employer.”
• – Discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in hiring or advertising for any job is prohibited, as is wage discrimination. Exceptions exist for small-sized employers (with fewer than four employees), work performed in a home or for family lives, personal services for the employer’s family and religious institutions.
• – There are no explicit restrictions against same-sex couple adoption, though the language around adoption by married couples in state law uses “husband” and “wife,” implying the exclusion of same-sex couples. There has been no legislative or judicial action explicitly establishing the right of joint adoptions for LGBT+ couples. However, if challenged, some experts say the law would likely be overturned.
• – There is no law prohibiting agencies to decline prospective adoptive parents based on religious beliefs.
• – Married same-sex couples have the same rights as married heterosexual couples to have both parents listed on the birth certificates of their newborn children, as held by the Iowa Supreme Court in Gartner v. Iowa Dep’t of Pub. Health (2013).
• – Conversion therapy is currently legal in Iowa, although there have been efforts on both the legislative and the professional level to effect changes. A bill proposing to ban conversion therapy on LGBT+ minors was passed by the Iowa Senate in March 2015 but subsequently died without a vote in the House. The Iowa Board of Medicine and the Iowa Board of Psychology have also had opportunities to consider petitions to ban state-licensed professionals from performing conversion therapy on minors, but have yet to adopt such policies.

Legal status of the Transgender Community

• – Iowa law currently prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, education and certain economic activities.
• – Individuals can change their gender markers on birth certificates. To do so, they must submit a notarized affidavit from a doctor and surgeon stating that the gender markers on file for the applicant have been changed by surgery or by other treatment. Neither a court appointment nor a name change is required.
• – Individuals can amend their gender markers on a driver’s license by submitting a certified amended or new Iowa birth certificate showing the correct gender marker. Individuals can also amend their legal name on the driver’s license. This requires a court-ordered name change, which does not require gender confirmation surgery.
• – Iowa’s penal code covers hate crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation but not gender identity. A bill proposing to add gender identity to Iowa’s hate crime law protection was initially approved in March 2016 by the Senate but subsequently died without a vote in the House.
• – Iowa does not prohibit private insurance providers from excluding transgender care from coverage.

Government statements and actions

• – The state supreme court ruled in March 2019 that Medicaid must cover gender affirmation surgery. The Iowa legislature has not responded to the ruling. As of today, Iowa’s Administrative Code still explicitly excludes sex reassignment surgery, listing it as a procedure that is “performed primarily for psychological purposes . . . but which does not correct or materially improve the bodily functions.”
• – In a letter to constituents, State Rep. Dean Fisher, R-Montour, wrote: “House Republicans are reviewing this decision and considering the best way to fight this insane ruling.”
• – In January 2018, a bathroom bill was introduced in the House seeking to protect schools and businesses’ right to restrict transgender women’s access to female bathrooms. The bill subsequently died.
• – Governor Kim Reynolds characterizes same-sex marriage as “settled” after the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling and declined to support her party’s platform opposing same-sex marriage at the Iowa state convention in 2018. When pressed to explain her stance, Reynolds said that people have traditional views on what they believe marriage consists of, and they have every right to have those views, but that the issue has been decided by the courts.
• – Senator Joni Ernst has a 0% rating from HRC, reflecting her voting record on LGBT+ issues. In 2018, Ernst (who is the first female combat veteran to be elected to the US Senate) publicly broke with the President on the transgender military ban, saying “I have asked transgenders myself, if you are willing to lay down your life beside me, I would welcome you into our military.”