ACLU, Lambda Legal challenge sweeping Iowa education law in federal court

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa and Lambda Legal on Tuesday sued to block a sweeping Iowa education law that restricts talk of LGBTQ identities in state schools, arguing in a federal lawsuit that the measure violates the constitutional rights of LGBTQ students.

The groups in Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Iowa on behalf of Iowa Safe Schools, a nonprofit organization supporting LGBTQ and allied youths, and seven Iowa students and their families, argue that Iowa’s Senate File 496 “singles out Iowa students and discriminates against them based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The law, which took effect July 1, requires books with descriptions or depictions of sex acts — with an exception carved out for certain religious texts including the Bible — be removed from school libraries and allows parents to submit anonymous complaints requesting the removal of additional books or classroom materials.

The measure also mandates that school officials notify a student’s parent or guardian when a student asks to use a name or pronouns different from those in the school’s records, even if the officials are aware that doing so will make the student vulnerable to abuse.

The law additionally prohibits instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through the sixth grade, a provision that has drawn comparisons to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, known to its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the measure in May, claiming in a news release that the law and other education reforms passed this session by the state’s GOP-controlled legislature “puts parents in the driver's seat.”

Responding to Tuesday’s lawsuit, Reynolds in a statement said Senate File 496 is intended to protect children from “pornography and sexually explicit material” and “shouldn’t be controversial.”

“The real controversary is that it exists in elementary schools,” she said.

"SF 496 is a clear violation of public school students' First Amendment right to speak, read, and learn freely,” ACLU of Iowa Staff Attorney Thomas Story said Tuesday in a statement. “The First Amendment does not allow our state or our schools to remove books or issue blanket bans on discussion and materials simply because a group of politicians or parents find them offensive.”

Story described the law as “deeply confusing” and said schools have struggled to comply. 

Hundreds of books were removed from Iowa school libraries this year in response to Senate File 496, according to an October report from the Des Moines Register, although titles vary between more conservative and liberal districts.

"Iowa schools across the state have been given an impossible task,” Story said Tuesday, “and it is no surprise that no two districts seem to be approaching compliance in the same way.”

The law has also drawn backlash from students, parents and school administrators, who say the new restrictions target LGBTQ students and worsens stigma against the community.

“I send my child to school, work and play every day knowing there are many individuals who, given the opportunity, would harm my child simply because he exists as his authentic self,” Belinda Scarrott, whose 16-year-old son, Percy Batista-Pedro, is a plaintiff in Tuesday’s lawsuit, said in a statement. “This law only serves to make life more perilous for him and more terrifying for me.”

“This law claims to protect parental rights, but it does the opposite,” Scarrott added. “Instead of sending my child to school and assuming he will be safe, as every parent of a cis-gendered, straight child does, I spend my days worrying about what potential damage this school day might do to my child's physical or mental well-being.”

“We deserve to be able to express ourselves safely at school and we deserve to see ourselves in media, especially in books,” said Berry Stevens, a 13-year-old student in West Des Moines and one of the plaintiffs in Tuesday’s lawsuit.

While Senate File 496 has been in effect since July, an enforcement mechanism is not set to take effect until January. At that time, Iowa school teachers who violate the law risk losing their professional license or certification.

“I do think that they are in an impossible position,” Nathan Maxwell, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, said Tuesday on a call with reporters. “They will have to soon make very terrible decisions that might impact the health and well-being of their students.”