Iowa Court Temporarily Blocks Banned Books and "Don't Say LGBTQ" Law

(Des Moines, Iowa - May 16, 2025) Yesterday, a federal district court once again temporarily blocked portions of SF 496, the sweeping Iowa law aimed at silencing LGBTQ+ students, erasing any recognition of LGBTQ+ people from public schools, and banning books with sexual or LGBTQ+ content.

The law was signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May 2023. Soon after, a lawsuit was filed to block it by Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Iowa, and Jenner & Block LLP on behalf of students, teachers, and Iowa Safe Schools. Since then, it has gone through a series of temporary blocks and appeals. This latest development once again temporarily blocks portions of the law.

"We're pleased that our clients, Iowa families and students, can look forward to the next school year without facing the harms of this unconstitutional law," said Nathan Maxwell, Senior Attorney at Lambda Legal. "This ruling acknowledges that Iowa students and teachers have experienced real harm from this law. 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, nor to put students in harm's way for failing to meet ambiguous and arbitrary standards for gender expression. Lastly, the court here makes it clear, yet again, that banning books with LGBTQ+ content or censoring inclusive messages for LGBTQ+ students is unacceptable. Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Iowa remain committed to ensuring that Iowa schools provide a safe, affirming environment for LGBTQ+ students."

"This is an important win for our clients and others harmed by this overreaching law," said Thomas Story, ACLU of Iowa staff attorney. "The federal district court has blocked the state from enforcing many of the worst aspects of SF 496. Under this order, Iowa teachers no longer can be disciplined simply because their classroom contains a Pride flag or their library contains books with LGBTQ+ characters. Students of all ages are once again free to join GSAs and to promote them to their classmates. This law, with certain narrow exceptions, should no longer stand in the way of school districts supporting efforts to include and support their LGBTQ+ students. The Constitution will not tolerate state censorship, and thanks to Iowa Safe Schools and our student and teacher plaintiffs, that guarantee is reaffirmed today. Iowa school districts should take note of this decision and revert any changes they have made to comply with these unconstitutional mandates from the state."

Key elements of Thursday's decision are:

The don't-say-LGBTQ+ portion of the law has been sharply limited. GSAs and their activities must be permitted without restriction. Books and materials may not be banned merely for containing transgender characters or same-sex relationships. Teachers can answer student questions on these topics, and they must be permitted to refer to their partners, even if same-sex. The statute is enforceable only in grades K-6 to prohibit mandatory, in-classinstruction on gender identity and sexual orientation, without regard to whether that instruction is on cisgender or transgender identities, straight or gay orientations. It may not be enforced to prohibit any other school activities or student expression or in any way at all after grade 6.
The "forced outing" section may be enforced only when a student requests to be referred to by pronouns different than those in the school's records. This element of the law was determined to be vague and may not be enforced in any other respect.
The court continues to block the book banwhich would have required the removal of books with certain types of "sexual content" from all school librariesin its entirety.

You can read the ruling here: https://lambdalegal.org/legal_document/iowa-safe-schools_ia_20250515_order-granting-partial-pi /

More information about the case is available here: https://lambdalegal.org/case/iowa-safe-schools-v-reynolds/

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and policy work. www.lambdalegal.org