A Timeline of Iowa's Banned Books/Don't Say LGBTQ Law

The bill, SF 496, is signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds. It's a wide-ranging education bill, but three provisions are especially harmful.

1. A book ban for grades K-12 for all books containing descriptions or depictions of a sex act, with the explicit exception of the Bible and other religious texts.
2. A “don’t say LGBTQ” provision that forbids programs, "promotion," "curriculum," "instruction," and more relating to "gender identity or sexual orientation" in grades K-6, effectively prohibiting any mention of gender identity or sexual orientation in those grades, and unequally applied to LGBTQ+ identities.
3. A "forced outing" provision that requires teachers, counselors, and other staff to report a student to parents or guardians if the student asks to use a name or pronoun relating to gender identity, regardless of whether doing so would make the student unsafe.

The law is scheduled to go into effect in July 2023, with penalties starting January 1, 2024.

Many schools consult with their legal counsel on how to comply with the vague and confusing law. Some districts do not remove books from their shelves but at least 300 districts do.

Ultimately, thousands of books are removed from school library and classroom shelves, including many classics like "1984," "A Catcher in the Rye," and "To Kill a Mockingbird." Many of the books are by critically acclaimed authors of color, including Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.

Also, many of these books contain LGBTQ+ characters and content of particular importance to LGBTQ+ students.

The Des Moines Register maintains a database of the books that have been removed.

The ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal file a federal lawsuit to block the law, describing the harms caused by the three provisions listed below.

Penguin Random House and the Iowa State Education Association also file a federal lawsuit, which asks that portions of the law be blocked.

Portions of the law are successfully blocked temporarily by a lower federal court in Des Moines while the lawsuits continue. The win prompts a handful of schools to put books they'd previously removed back on their shelves, but many districts do not.

The State of Iowa appeals the temporary injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit sends the lawsuit back to the lower federal court in Des Moines, directing it to reconsider the law’s constitutionality in light of Moody v. Netchoice, a recent First Amendment decision by the U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Court of Appeals also allows the law to go into effect for now, while the case is being reconsidered by the district court.

The ACLU and Lambda Legal file a renewed request for a new preliminary injunction, which addresses Moody v. Netchoice.

Penguin Random House and the ISEA also renew their request.

The hearing on the renewed motion for a preliminary injunction on SF 496 takes place at the Federal District Court Courthouse in Des Moines.

The court issues a preliminary injunction as requested by Penguin Random House. Its lawsuit continues to be one of the two lawsuits currently in play to block portions of SF 496. The ACLU/Lambda Legal lawsuit is the other. The Penguin lawsuit asks for a block of the banned books portion of the law. The ACLU/Lambda lawsuit asks for that, and also a block of the don't-say-LGBTQ and forced outing portions of SF 496.

The State of Iowa appeals the March 25 preliminary injunction granted to Penguin Random House.

The court grants a preliminary injunction in the ACLU/Lambda Legal lawsuit, which puts a stop for now to the school book ban, don't-say-LGBTQ, and forced outing provisions of the law. Details here.

The State of Iowa appeals the May 15 decision in the ACLU/Lambda Legal lawsuit, but portions of SF 496 remain blocked for now.