Iowa LGBTQ+ advocacy and legal groups returned to federal district court on Thursday, seeking to block Senate File 496, also known as Iowa’s book ban and “don’t-say-LGBTQ+” law.
American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, of Iowa, a non-partisan group focused on upholding the Iowa and U.S. Constitutions, Lambda Legal, a human rights organization, and Jenner and Block LLP Law Firm, are all part of the lawsuit.
On Thursday, the plaintiffs appeared at a hearing for the renewed motion for the preliminary injunction on SF496 at the Federal District Court Courthouse in Des Moines.
Enacted on May 26, 2023, the bill removed thousands of books from Iowa public schools, banned any discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-6, and required educators to report to parents or guardians any request by a student to refer to them as a gender not assigned to them at birth.
In November 2023, the ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit to block the law, and a month later, a federal judge halted the implementation of most of the law.
The temporary block was appealed in the middle of January 2024 and sent back to the district court level in August 2024, effectively pulling a number of books out of public schools just before the start of the 2024-25 school year.
The appeals court asked the district court to reconsider the constitutionality of the law following the United States Supreme Court decision in Moody V. NetChoice, which ruled that online platforms can choose which content to display and remove based on their own standards.
RELATED: Teachers, LGBTQ+ rights group file new lawsuit to block Iowa book ban law
Two Iowa educators, ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal, and two new plaintiffs filed a new request in October 2024 for a federal judge to block parts of the law that require public school districts to remove books depicting sexual acts — which some schools have interpreted to include LGBTQ+ topics. They also requested to block the requirement to inform parents of children seeking gender affirmation at school and the banning of LGBTQ+ topics in K-6.
Nathan Maxwell, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, said during a press conference on Thursday that the law remains as unconstitutional today as it was back in 2023.
“This law is achieving its goal of causing confusion and fear, and it must be enjoined immediately for the benefit not only of the plaintiffs in this case but for all students and families in Iowa and indeed all Iowans,” he said.
Thomas Story, staff attorney at ACLU of Iowa, reiterated the importance of LGBTQ+ students to feel safe at school.
“If there’s ever been a time that students, parents and teachers need our support, it’s right now. We’ve been fighting this state mandate since the beginning, and we’re going to continue to fight it because there is no excuse for infringing on students’ rights to be themselves,” they said. “LGBTQ+ students, you deserve to be safe at school. You deserve to read what you want to read.”