The ban begins!
An appeals court on Friday gave the state of Iowa permission to ban books that depict sexual acts from school libraries and classrooms.
The ruling overturns an earlier ruling by the district court and also stops the provision of instruction and materials about gender identity and sexual orientation to students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
The state law is scheduled to go into effect this fiscal year.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, welcomed the decision, saying: statement“Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit confirmed what we already knew: parents should be the ones to decide if and when sexually explicit books are appropriate for their children.”
Governor Reynolds signed the ban last May.
“This victory will ensure that our classrooms and libraries have age-appropriate books and curriculum,” said Iowa Attorney General Brenna Byrd (R). It said in a statement“This win means parents will no longer have to worry about what their children will have access to at school when they’re not around.”
Judge Steven Locher issued a preliminary injunction on parts of the law in December, calling the book ban “incredibly broad.” As for the provision banning any discussion of “gender identity” or “sexual orientation” in elementary schools, Locher said it was “egregiously overbroad.”
The law has already 3,400 books The Des Moines Register determined that the move from Iowa schools is set to take effect on Jan. 1.
The state appealed the injunction. An appeals court judge overturned it on Friday, saying Locher’s decision Based The Iowa Capital-Dispatch said the ruling was based on a “faulty analysis of the law.”
The president of the Iowa State Education Association, one of many groups that filed suit to overturn the law, said His association said it was “disappointed” by the ruling.
“Banning required reading in schools is a burden on teachers who will be punished for failing to guess which books fall into supposedly offensive categories, and on students who will be denied the opportunity to read the works of great authors with worthy stories,” Iowa Education Association President Joshua Brown said in a statement.
