Last week, a federal judge in Iowa blocked a controversial school book ban from implementation within the state’s public school system. The legislation, known as Senate File 496 was enacted after consultations with the group Moms For Liberty. The law prohibits school libraries from hosting books which depict “sex acts” and restricts any programs or instruction related to gender identity or sexual orientation for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
According to Judge Stephen Locher, the book ban has already resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from school libraries, spanning different genres and categories, including books like The Truth About Rape designed to aid young adults in avoiding sexual violence.
The law not only engendered a wave of self-censorship with educators removing pride flags and canceling LGBTQ+ clubs but was also subjected to legal challenges. One of such challenges was lodged by a group of LGBTQ+ students and their parents represented by Lambda Legal and the ACLU on grounds of unlawful viewpoint discrimination. This was followed by a consortium comprising Penguin Random House, local educators and authors whose books have been delisted, challenging the statute on both First Amendment and due process grounds.
Judge Locher held that under the plain language of the law, it bans the depiction of any relationship and also the use of pronouns. He struck the provision of the law banning the “promotion” of gender identity as void for vagueness.
The book ban, however, is somewhat complicated. After analyses of various SCOTUS and Eighth Circuit decisions, Locher concluded that the plaintiffs were differently situated. Judge Locher stated that the ban is so broad that it deprives children of access to virtually any book that depicts or describes sex at all, under a statewide law with implications for publishers, authors, teachers, and students.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds expressed her great disappointment with Judge Locher’s ruling, arguing that there should be no question that books containing sexually explicit content, as defined in Iowa law, do not belong in a school library for children.
For more detailed information regarding this case, you may wish to review the docket via Penguin Random House, LLC v. Robbins or GLBT Youth in Iowa Schools Task Force v. Reynolds.