(CN) — A New York-based book publisher and several authors sued Iowa state education officials over a new state law that has forced schools to remove books with LGBTQ+ themes that have been labeled as pornography by state leaders.
The lawsuit challenges the book-banning provisions of Iowa’s statute broadly aimed at eliminating school curricula and support for students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning. Specifically, the law requires schools to remove books and materials from school libraries and classrooms that contain descriptions or depictions of “sex acts.”
Penguin Random House, along with four authors whose work it publishes, a parent, teachers and school librarians, sued the state in federal court in Des Moines Thursday arguing the statute, Senate File 496, enacted in 2023, violates the plaintiffs’ First and 14th Amendment rights. The complaint names as defendants state education officials and two Iowa school districts.
“The right to speak and the right to read are inextricably intertwined,” the complaint states.
“Just as authors have the right to communicate their ideas to students without undue interference from the government, students have a corresponding right to receive those ideas. Publishers and educators connect authors to students. If the government dislikes an author’s idea, it can offer a competing message. It cannot shut down the marketplace of ideas.”
Thursday’s suit was the second this week filed in federal court in Des Moines challenging Iowa’s law. An LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group and eight students challenged the constitutionality of the law in a Tuesday lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the law firm Jenner & Block.
Iowa elected officials, including Governor Kim Reynolds and legislative leaders, have described some of the books targeted by the statute as “pornography,” but the plaintiffs argue that books being removed from schools under Iowa’s new statute are not pornography, “nor do they constitute obscenity” under the U.S. Supreme Court’s legal standard.
In its complaint, lead plaintiff Penguin Random House, which calls itself the world’s largest trade publisher with more than 300 independent publishing imprints globally, said books it published have been targeted for removal by Iowa school districts. Among them: “Beloved” by Toni Morrison; “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo; “Ulysses” by James Joyce; “As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner; “Push: A Novel” by Sapphire; and “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou.
In addition to the publisher, plaintiffs include authors Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Malinda Lo and Jodi Picoult, whose books have been targeted for removal or removed from Iowa school libraries and classroom collections as a result of Senate File 496.
According to the complaint, at least 24 Iowa school districts have determined that Senate File 496 requires that Picoult’s book “Nineteen Minutes” be removed from school libraries and classroom collections. The book centers on a school shooting through a character who has been bullied for most of his life and a character who is being physically and sexually abused by her boyfriend.
For the plaintiff authors, “school libraries are a critical means of reaching their intended audiences and securing the broadest possible readership,” the complaint states. Their books “are vehicles for their personal messages and ideas. The removal of their books from school and classroom libraries, including the associated stigma, causes them harm, both personally and professionally.”
In a statement released Thursday, the Iowa Department of Education said, "Senate File 496 keeps explicit books and materials with graphic descriptions or depictions of sex acts out of the hands of children in school. The Iowa Department of Education will continue to implement this law as statutorily required."
Thursday’s complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by Mark E. Weinhardt of Des Moines, attorneys for the Iowa State Education Association and attorneys for ArentFox Schiff in Chicago.
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How long has this been going on? May 3, 2024
