Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has declared victory after the Trump administration backed away from changes to school disability law she had challenged in court.
The September 2024 lawsuit, one of many Bird initiated or joined challenging initiatives of the Biden administration, drew extra alarm from parents with disabled children.
Filed in Texas federal court, it involves the interpretation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination based on an individual’s disability in programs that receive federal funding. In schools, that can range from requiring ramps for children in wheelchairs to extra time on tests for children with neurological disorders.
A 2024 rule issued under President Joe Biden sought to include gender dysphoria among conditions that can result in eligibility for what are known as “504 plans.” In response 17 states, including Iowa, sued, arguing that the law explicitly excludes gender identity disorders.
But the lawsuit went further, arguing Section 504 is coercive and “applies with extreme breadth” to any recipient of federal funds, and the petition sought injunctions blocking the government not just from enforcing the 2024 rule, but the entirety of Section 504, and for the court to declare it unconstitutional.
That raised alarm from parents and advocates, some of whom coordinated a letter-writing campaign to Bird’s office. Bird at the time denied any attempt to undermine the law, claiming through a spokesperson that the lawsuit “protects the 504 law and makes certain no parent has to worry whether their child will get the support they need in school.”
Disability advocates at the time said Bird was contradicting the plain language of her own lawsuit. “It’s very disingenuous for Attorney General Bird to say that this lawsuit would not demolish Section 504,” Amber Gustafson, an Ankeny resident and former Democratic legislative candidate, said in February 2025. “Either that means she hasn’t read it, or she’s trying to cover up what it is that she’s doing here.”
Change in administration makes lawsuit moot
On his first day in office in January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that federal agencies not “promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology,” and the parties agreed to postpone the Section 504 lawsuit while the government reevaluated its position.
On Jan. 30, more than a year later, Bird announced that the lawsuit has concluded, and that the Trump administration had “clarified” that gender dysphoria is not covered under the law. In her news release, she argued that it was Biden, rather than the plaintiff states, who had endangered 504 protections for students.
“If left unchecked, the Biden-Harris scheme to push transgender ideologies on children would have made all of Section 504 unconstitutional and jeopardized school accommodations for kids who need it,” the news release said.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa AG declares victory after Trump drops Biden gender dysphoria rule
Reporting by William Morris, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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