Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday vowed to continue efforts to protect the children after a federal judge partially blocked a law that prohibits students from kindergarten through sixth grade from being provided instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation.
“I’m extremely disappointed in today’s ruling. Instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation has no place in kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms,” Ms. Reynolds said in a statement following the ruling.
“And there should be no question that books containing sexually explicit content—as clearly defined in Iowa law—do not belong in a school library for children.
“The fact that we’re even arguing these issues is ridiculous,” she continued. “The real debate should be about why society is so intent on oversexualizing our young children. It’s wrong, and I will continue to do my part to protect their innocence.”
In May, Ms. Reynolds signed Senate File 496 into law, a comprehensive bill addressing children, students, and parental rights. The legislation explicitly includes several provisions to restrict age-inappropriate instruction and give parents and guardians more ways to oversee and guide their child’s education with regard to these issues.
The other provisions in the law generally apply to or affect all levels from pre-K through grade 12. This includes banning any books that contain “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act” from libraries and from classroom instruction. However, religious texts would be exempt.
One notable provision of the law is the prohibition of classroom instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Another notable provision of the law is the requirement for schools to notify parents if their child asks to use a different pronoun or begins to identify as another gender.
On Friday, District Judge Stephen Locher, finding the law to be “incredibly broad,” blocked parts of the legislation banning books that depict explicit sexual activity in school libraries and that bar discussions in state schools about LGBT and other gender identity matters.
However, he did not block the provision in the law that requires school districts to inform parents if their child begins to identify as another gender “or otherwise seeks an accommodation relating to gender identity,“ noting in his filing that ”they are all already ‘out’ to their families and therefore not affected in a concrete way by this requirement.”
“The law is incredibly broad and has resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from school libraries, including, among others, nonfiction history books, classic works of fiction, Pulitzer Prize winning contemporary novels, books that regularly appear on Advanced Placement exams, and even books designed to help students avoid being victimized by sexual assault,” Judge Locher wrote in his ruling.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit against the legislation on behalf of Iowa Safe Schools, an LGBT nonprofit, and seven Iowa students and their families.
Publisher Penguin Random House, four authors, a group of parents, educators, and the Iowa State Education Administration, the state’s largest teachers’ union, filed a second lawsuit.
In remarks previously defending the law, Iowa’s governor argued that “protecting children from pornography and sexually explicit content” shouldn’t be a “controversial” subject.
“The real controversy is that it exists in elementary schools. Books with graphic depictions of sex acts have absolutely no place in our schools. If these books were movies, they'd be rated R. The media cannot even air or print excerpts from these books because the content is offensive and inappropriate, yet they promote the narrative that they’re good for kids,” Ms. Reynolds said on Nov. 28.
The law’s enforcement would have gone into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. Administrators, teachers, librarians, and other school staff who violate the law would risk disciplinary action, including termination and loss of their state professional education license.
Republicans have largely supported such laws in Iowa and other states in recent years that prohibit teachers from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation issues, require students to use bathrooms that correspond to their biological sex, and prohibit the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones by minors.
