The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has permitted Iowa to enforce a ban on LGBT books in public school classrooms.
“This is a huge win for Iowa parents,” said Iowa Attorney General Bird. “Parents should always know that school is a safe place for their children to learn, not be concerned they are being indoctrinated with inappropriate sexual materials and philosophies. I am grateful that our law protecting children was upheld today.”
“Because there is an inadequate showing to demonstrate the unconstitutional applications of Iowa Code § 279.80(2) substantially outweigh the constitutional ones, Plaintiffs cannot show a likelihood of success on the merits, and the entry of a preliminary injunction was improper,” the court found.
In March 2025, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher argued that “Senate File 496 makes no attempt to evaluate a book’s literary, political, artistic, or scientific value before requiring the book’s removal from a school library and thus comes nowhere close to applying the ‘obscenity’ standard that is typically used to determine the constitutionality of statewide book restrictions.”
Locher issued a preliminary injunction against the law in 2023, saying it was “incredibly broad and has resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from school libraries, including, among others, nonfiction history books, classic works of fiction, Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary novels, books that regularly appear on Advanced Placement exams, and even books designed to help students avoid being victimized by sexual assault.” He added at the time that the “court has been unable to locate a single case upholding the constitutionality of a school library restriction even remotely similar.”
The case surrounds a 2023 law that bans sexually explicit books and materials in school libraries. It further requires schools to prioritize age-appropriate learning and bans gender-related teachings from kindergarten through sixth grade, Bird’s office explained.
