Iowa § 216.9 - 216.9 Unfair or discriminatory practices — education.

§ 216.9. 216.9 Unfair or discriminatory practices — education.

1. It is an unfair or discriminatory practice for any educational institution to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or disability in any program or activity. Such discriminatory practices shall include but not be limited to the following practices: a. Exclusion of a person or persons from participation in, denial of the benefits of, or subjection to discrimination in any academic, extracurricular, research, occupational training, or other program or activity except athletic programs; b. Denial of comparable opportunity in intramural and interscholastic athletic programs; c. Discrimination among persons in employment and the conditions of employment; d. On the basis of sex, the application of any rule concerning the actual or potential parental, family or marital status of a person, or the exclusion of any person from any program or activity or employment because of pregnancy or related conditions dependent upon the physician’s diagnosis and certification. 2. For the purpose of this section, “educational institution” includes any preschool, elementary or secondary school, community college, area education agency, or postsecondary college or university and their governing boards. This section does not prohibit an educational institution from maintaining separate toilet facilities, locker rooms, or living facilities for the different sexes so long as comparable facilities are provided. Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting any bona fide religious institution from imposing qualifications based on religion or sexual orientation when such qualifications are related to a bona fide religious purpose or any institution from admitting students of only one sex. [C79, 81, §601A.9] 85 Acts, ch 214, §1; 86 Acts, ch 1245, §1496; 90 Acts, ch 1253, §121 C93, §216.9 2007 Acts, ch 191, §11, 12; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, §36; 2025 Acts, ch 1, §19, 20 Referred to in §216.2, 260C.5 Subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph 1 amended Subsection 2 amended Thu Dec 11 18:57:12 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Section 216.9 (24, 1)