Lutheran minister Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat candidate for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, once claimed that Christians who oppose the "GLBTQ" ideology are racist. She also downplayed concerns about the dangers of transgender ideology for women. Trone, a former state senator and minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, argued that challenges to traditional definitions of men and women are "very threatening" to white men. She suggested that laws to keep males out of female sports or protect kids from sexually explicit books were motivated by a misguided belief that “white men” are “responsible” for protecting women. During her time in the State Senate, she voted against a bill to keep boys out of girls’ sports and opposed a bill shielding children from transgender procedures.