Iowa: Sex Offender, Transphobic Smear Campaign Dragged into AG Race

via Caleb McCullough for the Gazette, a mainstream Iowa newspaper

In Iowa, a misleading ad about a trans sex offender who violated her parole has been made by Republican Brenna Bird, attacking the Democratic incumbent Attorney General. The case blames the incumbent for failing to pursue involuntary committment, which is sometimes used to prevent sex offenders deemed highly likely to reoffend from re-entering society after their prison term. Involuntary committment was not pursued after experts changed their opinion on whether the woman was likely to reoffend when they learned she was pursuing hormone therapy interventions which tend to reduce sex-drive.

This seems to be a relatively straightforward case of a dangerous person who was monitored closely when they failed to meet the standard for involuntary committment and then returned to jail after a serious parole violation, but in a climate where the far right in working smear all trans people as pedophiles, any case like this risks being used as fuel. We’ll keep an eye on it.