Plaintiffs in lawsuits against Iowa’s book ban law have vowed to continue their legal challenges, filing new requests for a preliminary injunction against the law.
There are two federal lawsuits against the state’s education law Senate File 496 — one predominantly led by a group of book publishers and authors, and the other involving LGBTQ+ youth advocate group Iowa Safe Schools, students and school staff. The plaintiffs in both lawsuits last week filed new requests for preliminary injunctions after an appeals court in August overturned a temporary block on the law.
SF 496 bans books that depict or describe sex acts from schools, except for religious and health texts. It also prohibits instruction or curriculum about gender identity and sexual orientation through the sixth grade, which some schools have interpreted to include banning books with those themes.
The lawsuits against SF 496 were originally filed last fall, with plaintiffs arguing that the law is unconstitutional.
In a virtual news conference Lambda Legal and American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa held Monday, Nathan Maxwell, a senior attorney for Lambda, said the new filings reflect the appeals court’s ruling and include a legal analysis the court required given the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the recent Moody v. NetChoice case. The organizations are part of the legal team that represent the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that includes Iowa Safe Schools.
Maxwell added there’s also been changes to the plaintiffs. Puck Carlson, a student previously involved with the case, graduated high school and another, identified in the lawsuit by a pseudonym, left public schools.
But two new plaintiffs were added. Dan Gutmann is a fourth grade teacher at Des Moines Public Schools and Alyson Telford is a seventh grade teacher in Norwalk.
Gutmann talked during Monday’s news conference about how the law has negatively affected him as a teacher who’s also a gay man. He said an administrator told him he could not mention his husband in the presence of students after the law passed.
The district reversed its policy position after he objected, he said.
“Whether or not the state and schools are allowed to discipline me and other LGBTQ+ staff for our identities, the problem is that under Senate File 496, we don’t know one way or the other if they will try. These are our careers on the line,” Gutmann said.
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Attorneys on the call did not have a timeline for a ruling on the new request for an injunction but expected the same judge, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher, will preside over any proceedings.
Locher in December placed a preliminary injunction on the law’s book ban and its restrictions on the instruction of gender and sexuality while the lawsuits continue. He wrote that Senate File 496 is too vague and presents constitutional concerns under the First and 14th amendments.
Judge Ralph Erickson said in the appeals decision that overturned the injunction that the district court’s analysis had been flawed. “Given the pedagogical mission and the policy making authority possessed by Iowa, it is important in conducting a review and analysis to bear in mind that Iowa is not required to tolerate speech that undermines or is inconsistent with its central mission of educating Iowa children,” Erickson wrote.
But the appeals court rejected the state’s argument that the removal of books from public school libraries constitutes government speech.
The Des Moines Register has documented 3,400 books pulled from schools under Senate File 496, which has also prompted concerns from advocates about the effect on LGBTQ+ students.
Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X at @pslifeisabeauty.
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