A FOR ACTIVISM

Iowa Students Outsmart GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds at Scholar Ceremony

Three high schoolers protested her policies while accepting honors.

Three Iowa students accepting academic honors from Gov. Kim Reynolds found a way to protest her policies. One of them did the obligatory grip-and-grin and then leaned forward and shouted out, “Trans rights are human rights,” while Reynolds, who signed a ban on gender-affirming care, broke character for just a moment. Two other students called to the stage wore T-shirts—one emblazoned with “I Read Banned Books,” in apparent reference to Reynolds’ push for a library crackdown, and the other with the words, “Public Money for Public Schools,” possibly a nod to the governor’s support of voucher programs that fund charter schools.