Overview

• Penguin Random House, the nation's largest publisher, and four bestselling authors have filed a federal lawsuit against an Iowa law that bans books in schools and limits what can be taught on sexual orientation and gender identity.
• The law, SF 496, signed by Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in May, requires K-12 school libraries to only carry books deemed 'age-appropriate' and to exclude any book with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.
• The lawsuit argues that the law violates the First and 14th Amendments, discriminates against LGBTQ+ viewpoints and authors, and deprives students of literature that portrays critical aspects of the human experience.
• Books that have been proposed for removal under the law include award-winning novels such as 'The Color Purple', 'Ulysses', and 'The Handmaid's Tale'.
• This is the second lawsuit filed against the Iowa law in a week, following a lawsuit by Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Iowa, and the law firm Jenner & Block LLP.