Steven M. Fink served as rabbi of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Des Moines from 1983 to 1999. He chose to return to Des Moines after retiring from the pulpit rabbinate. He chose Des Moines because of its rich culture and active civic engagement.  

When Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill to roll back civil rights protections for transgender people, all Christians, Muslims, and Jews should have been appalled. All three of the Abrahamic religions espouse the belief that a spark of the Divine exists in every human being. 

How then could a majority in the Republican-dominated legislature, many of whom claim to be religious people who base their votes on what God wants, vote to repeal civil rights legislation for a protected group? As the Des Moines Register noted, signing the bill “makes Iowa the first state in the country to take away civil rights from a group it has previously protected in law.” 

How can these representatives of the proud state of Iowa, descendants of those leaders who desegregated schools long before the U.S. Supreme Court required it, admitted women into the legal profession, and acknowledged the right of same-sex couples to marry take a huge backwards step by eliminating civil rights protections for a group of human beings? 

Do they not believe that a spark of God resides in every person? Do they believe that God makes mistakes and they should rectify those wrongs by denying human status to transgender people?