(ABC 6 News) — With unanimous support from Republicans in the state House and Senate, Governor Reynolds signed Senate File 418 into law on February 28.

The law removes protections from the Iowa Civil Rights Act on the basis of gender identity, designates “gender and sex” as either male or female, and prohibits instruction related to “gender theory” in Iowa’s schools.

At a legislative listening post held in Mason City on Saturday, Kaylara Hoadley fought back tears as she rose for her turn to speak, her hands clutching a framed photo of a smiling child with dimples and long blonde hair.

“This is my child,” she said, locking eyes with State Senator Doug Campbell and Representative Christian Hermanson as she addressed them.

“We forced our child to enter in traditional gender roles specific to their gender at birth,” Hoadley told of her seventeen-year-old child, who identifies as non-binary. “Years and years of forced conformity took a severe tool on their mental health. My child was twelve when they came and told me that they wanted to take their own life.”

“I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that my child doesn’t deserve the same rights as every other child,” Hoadley said.

In a statement, Reynolds said, “Today, I am signing into law a bill that safeguards the rights of women and girls. It is common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it is necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls.”

Hoadley said it opens her child along with other intersex, nonbinary or transgender Iowans to discrimination.

“Protecting women and protecting at-risk populations like transgender individuals are not mutually exclusive,” Hoadley said.

“Intersex children exist,” shouted a member of the crowd at the listening post.

“I don’t deny that they do,” said Hermanson. “I don’t think anybody in this room denies that they do. They have the same rights to be free of assault as anybody else does. They have the same rights to exist as anybody else does. And they have the same rights to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of justice as anybody else.”

Hermanson added, “I did not run on social issues. I ran to address public safety, tax policy and infrastructure issues. These are the things that hold our community together and allow people to exist and work and live and raise families and love each other. This issue came to me. I did not bring this issue up in the House, but I did vote for it. I voted for it because I have three young granddaughters that should not ever have to face a situation where they could be in a locker room with a biological male.”

Hermanson argued that removing gender identity as a protected class in the state does not affect protections afforded under the Fourteenth Amendment.

“Civil rights protections exist at both federal and state levels for all Iowans,” Hermanson said. “Gender identity remains a protected class in nearly all cases. [The bill] simply brings Iowa in line with federal law in most other states while ensuring the stability of existing laws.”