The issues have become flashpoints in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Republican lawmakers say the laws are designed to affirm parents’ rights and protect children. Republicans have largely backed such laws in Iowa and other states in recent years that prohibit teachers from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues, restrict the restrooms transgender students can use, and ban treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans minors. “As a result of the ban, LGBTQ+ students are denied the comfort of narratives that include LGBTQ+ characters and the solace that they are not alone,” the ACLU said. Free for commercial use High Quality Images. 92,000+ Vectors, Stock Photos & PSD files. Find & Download Free Graphic Resources for Calendar Clip Art. Many of the banned books contain content of particular relevance to LGBTQ+ students, including LGBTQ+ characters, historical figures or themes. 50 OFF Freepik Premium, now including videos. Schools across Iowa have pulled hundreds of titles from their shelves in response to the law, the ACLU said. Penalties for violating the law will go into effect 1 January and place administrators, teachers, librarians and other school staff at risk of disciplinary action, including termination and loss of their state professional education license. So removing these books not only makes people less visible, but it also stops students from discovering and being true to themselves.” “School is one of the main places that children read, and being able to access literature in which you can see yourself is instrumental to a student’s discovery of themselves,” Carlson said. She has watched her younger LGBTQ+ sister struggle to feel safe in school since the law took effect, she said. One plaintiff, Iowa City high school senior Puck Carlson, said in an online news conference that the law is having a devastating effect on Iowa LGBTQ+ students. ![]() ![]() “Books with graphic depictions of sex acts have absolutely no place in our schools,” Reynolds said in a written statement. Iowa governor Kim Reynolds, who signed the measure into law, defended it as “protecting children from pornography and sexually explicit content”. “The first amendment does not allow our state or our schools to remove books or issue blanket bans on discussion and materials simply because a group of politicians or parents find them offensive,” ACLU attorney Thomas Story said. It seeks an injunction blocking the law while the lawsuit plays out in court and ultimately seeks to have it declared unconstitutional as a violation of students’ and teachers’ free speech and equal protection rights. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Iowa Safe Schools, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ children, and seven Iowa students, ranging in age from fourth to 12th grades, and their families. The law’s section that bans books depicting sex acts from school libraries includes an exception for religious texts, like the Christian Bible. Under the law, educators are forbidden from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues with students through grade six, and school administrators are required to notify parents if students ask to change their pronouns or names.
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