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May 19, 2025 |  By: Associated Press

Iowa can continue to restrict instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools through sixth grade

Iowa can continue to restrict instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools up through the sixth grade, a federal judge said, but has to allow nonmandatory programs related to the topics.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher offered a split decision late Thursday, siding in part with an LGBTQ advocacy organization, teachers and students who sued the state. Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement Friday that she is committed to defending Iowa’s law protecting children and her office is “looking at next steps, including appeal.”

In a separate ruling in March, Locher again temporarily blocked another disputed component of the law, which would prohibit school libraries from carrying books that depict sex acts. Iowa has asked the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn that decision.