Federal Judge Guts Iowa’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law
The ruling strikes down Iowa book ban and LGBTQ classroom restrictions as unconstitutional.
A federal judge issued an order blocking parts of Iowa’s anti-LGBTQ education law, which has been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics.
Provisions of the law, signed into effect by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May 2023, include a ban on books with “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act” — except for approved scientific or health class texts, or religious texts like the Bible. The law also prohibits “any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion, or instruction” that references sexual orientation or gender identity in K-6 classrooms.
Under the law, teachers and other school personnel are barred from making any “accommodation that is intended to affirm the student’s gender identity” without first receiving written permission from a students’ parents or legal guardian.
Teachers also must inform parents if a student asks to use a name or pronouns that do not match their assigned sex at birth.
The law was slated to go into effect on January 1, 2024, but the ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of the LGBTQ nonprofit Iowa Safe Schools and seven Iowa students and their families who claim to be affected by the law, with the intent of stopping the state from enforcing it.
Publishing giant Penguin Random House filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of four authors whose works were censored under the ban. The state’s largest teacher’s union, the Author’s Guild, and four major publishers joined the lawsuit.
In December 2023, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher, of the Southern District of Iowa, combined the two lawsuits. Locher later ruled that the book ban provision of the law likely violates the First Amendment, and that the prohibition on LGBTQ-related content in classrooms is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.
The state appealed the decision, and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction, ordering the lower court to apply a new U.S. Supreme Court case in analyzing the parties’ arguments.
In March, Locher issued a temporary injunction stopping the state from enforcing the bans. On May 15, he issued a preliminary injunction that blocked some parts of the law while allowing other provisions to take effect, reports Little Village magazine.
Locher upheld the law’s ban on mandatory lessons or instruction to students in grades K-6 that includes “detailed explanations or normative views on ‘gender identity,’ or ‘sexual orientation.'” While that provision was championed as a way to erase LGBTQ-related content from the school curriculum, Locher said that for the provision to be constitutional, the ban must apply to all gender identities and sexual orientations.
“It does not matter whether the lessons or instruction revolve around cisgender or transgender identities or straight or gay sexual orientations,” Locher wrote. “All are forbidden.”
However, he found that teachers should not be punished for incidental, neutral references to sexual orientation or gender identity made within the context of a larger lesson. He also found that teachers may assign books or provide lessons to K-6 students involving characters or gender identities (cisgender or transgender) and sexual orientations (gay or straight) as long as those are not the primary focus of the lesson.
Locher warned that provisions of the law banning “programs” related to gender identity are overly broad, noting that, under a neutral reading of the law, banning anything gender identity-related “would mean the law bans ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ sports teams and any other classroom or extracurricular activity that recognizes and endorses gender identity.”
Locher blocked a provision of the law banning Gender-Sexuality Alliances and other student groups relating to gender identity or sexual orientation, saying students must be allowed to join such groups if they wish.
Locher noted that the law has prompted some school districts to remove LGBTQ symbols, such as Pride flags and safe space stickers, for fear that teachers could be prosecuted for exposing younger students to those symbols. Some teachers were even advised not to mention their same-sex partners within earshot of students. Locher found that such prohibitions violate the First Amendment.
Locher narrowed the law’s provision requiring written permission from parents before accommodating a student’s gender identity, finding it unconstitutionally vague because it does not define what constitutes an “accommodation.”
However, he did keep in place the “parental notification” provision of the law, requiring teachers to inform parents if their children request to be addressed using names or pronouns that don’t match those listed on their official school records.
Locher concluded that both the student and teacher plaintiffs could face “irreparable harm” if the provisions he blocked were allowed to remain in effect.
“This ruling acknowledges that Iowa students and teachers have experienced real harm from this law,” Nathan Maxwell, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, said in a statement. “The court agreed with us that the latitude afforded the State to determine school curricula does not empower lawmakers to erase any mention of LGBTQ+ people altogether from schools.”
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