As Iowa continues to see legislation impact transgender individuals, Iowa City community members gathered to mark Transgender Day of Visibility in College Green Park on March 30, a day after the pride flag hanging outside the Johnson County Administration Building was stolen.
Johnson County Supervisor Mandi Remington, an organizer of Transgender Visibility Week’s events, took to Facebook to react to the flag theft.
“Our trans community members aren’t going anywhere, and neither are our flags,” Remington said in the post.
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Remington said events recognizing transgender people have grown more important in recent years, pointing to what she described as “consistent, relentless attacks” on the transgender community — particularly transgender youth — by the state legislature.
Three years ago, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law, restricting transgender minors from using puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgery for gender transition.
“There’s been an increasing number of anti-LGBTQ, particularly anti-trans, attacks every legislative session for several years in a row now,” Remington said.
Remington told The Daily Iowan that she doesn’t know who stole the item. She added that, to her knowledge, whoever stole the flag did not try to hide their identity.
Remington said the county has had similar issues with their flags at the county’s building in the past.
“We just fix it, and we move on, and we let people know that one act of hate does not define our community,” Remington said.
After the flag was stolen, Chair Jon Green took the transgender flag that was hanging from his office and put it on the flagpole.
“We’re not going to be intimidated. We’re gonna stand up for everybody who lives here and everybody’s inherent human rights, pretty basic,” Green said.
Remington said Johnson County is one of the few areas in Iowa where transgender people are able to live without fear of discrimination, with Johnson County having gender identity protections with its Human Rights Ordinances, protections the state is trying to take away.
Most recently, in March 2026, Kim Reynolds signed a preemption law — a law that takes precedence over conflicting local laws — preventing cities and counties from having civil rights protections that go beyond the categories identified in state code.
Green said typically, states set the baseline of rights, allowing for local governments to address local factors, like gender identity. However, with the new bill passed, Green said the legislature is placing limits on the populations that can benefit from basic human rights.
“There is no way for any local government to address local factors. No recognition that Johnson County is a unique community that has differences from other communities throughout the state, and that’s fine. We should have the opportunity for local elected leaders here to start our own course so long as it doesn’t try to go below the floor set by the state,” Green said.
Green said Johnson County’s civil ordinances will stay in place until “We have a saner, less vicious legislature in Des Moines.”
Remington is the mother of two transgender children and said the laws have personally affected her family, with the closest gender-affirming care being provided in Peoria, Illinois.
“The first thing that happened was right before my child turned 16 and was going to be able to start accessing some gender-affirming care,” Remington said. “The law changed to make it so that he was not able to access that here in Iowa. It took us about a year to find a place that we were able to get into so that they could start accessing care at 17.”
Remington encouraged people wanting to support transgender youth to do so practically, supporting local organizations by giving them attention and funds.
Remington said during the 2026 Trans Visibility Week, Johnson County raised $3,000 for the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund and $1,200 for the Lavender Legal Center, which provides legal services for LGBTQ+ people.
“We’re seeing these attacks on civil rights, and we’re seeing these legislative slides backwards,” Remington said. “It’s really important that our community knows that regardless of what the state government’s doing, what the federal government’s doing, both their local government and their local community do not feel in ways that those decisions are reflecting.”
Green said these legislative changes won’t end with just transgender people but affect other groups, which he added is reflective of issues larger than the state of Iowa.
“Fascism basically eats the host,” Green said. “Maybe we’re starting with trans people, but then it’s going to be people of color, going to be gay people. It’s gonna be Jewish folks. We have to fight for every one of our neighbors every day.”