Our coverage partner KCRG says Dubuque mayor Brad Cavanagh has called for a special session of city council to reinstate gender identity protections after he says they were mistakenly removed at Monday’s council meeting.
In a social media post, Cavanagh said the city voted to amend language regarding ordinances around the city’s human resources department. In doing so, he said the new ordinance language omitted gender identity from the list of the city’s protected groups. He also went on to apologize for what he called the mistake.
City manager Michael Van Milligen said he believes the language was changed because of concerns surrounding eligibility of federal funding, citing recent state and federal changes regarding gender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Van Milligen also took blame for the confusion surrounding the language.
The special session to amend the language is scheduled for Monday.
