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Iowa transgender musician and activist acquitted on protest charges

The arrests of seven protesters last fall in Iowa City were seen by some people as an effort to limit their right to assemble.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske | 2024-03-13

Police body-camera footage shows Tara McGovern during a protest last fall at the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City. (Photo by the University of Iowa police department)

Tara McGovern, a transgender musician who was arrested last fall after protesting a speaker on the University of Iowa campus, was acquitted Wednesday of charges that they contended went to the heart of the constitutional right to assemble.

McGovern, who goes by they/them pronouns, had been charged with two misdemeanors in connection with the event. So were six other protesters from a crowd of about 200 people. All of those arrested were transgender. All but two pleaded guilty. McGovern went to trial on principle; the seventh person's trial will take place in Iowa City this spring.

"I am so relieved that the last six months of my life have resolved with two not guilty verdicts," they said after the verdict.

University police claimed the protesters were "chanting and constantly trying to walk in the street in front of the vehicles ... preventing them from driving away," as a detective wrote in his report. "Tens of those people abided by police requests and instructions to leave the roadway and were nonconfrontational," but McGovern and two other protesters were "questioning why they can't just do what they want and claimed they had rights."

McGovern, 45, insisted they didn't break the law during the demonstration against Chloe Cole, the speaker who once identified as transgender and now opposes gender-affirming care for minors. The defense said police body-camera video entered as evidence proved that point.

In the footage reviewed by The Washington Post, McGovern and other protesters are seen continuously walking back and forth across the street as police try to keep them on the sidewalk. An officer tells McGovern, who's carrying rainbow and trans rights flags, that "it's against the law to block an intersection." The officer is then seen reaching out to move McGovern and other protesters out of the road.

Iowa was among 16 states to enact "Back the Blue" laws, increasing protest-related penalties following demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Activists say such laws can clash with constitutional rights, including freedom of speech.

The charges filed against McGovern included interference with official acts and disorderly conduct obstructing streets, the more serious of the two misdemeanors.

Johnson County District Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith responded late Wednesday afternoon: "The Defendant got a fair trial and, regardless of the outcome, that is always the ultimate goal."


This article was downloaded by calibre from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/13/iowa-protester-transgender-trial-acquitted/


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