Penguin Random House, authors sue Iowa education administrators over book ban

The country’s largest publisher and four bestselling authors are part of a lawsuit filed Thursday against Iowa’s law that bans public school libraries and classrooms from having nearly any book that depicts sexual activity.

Penguin Random House and authors Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Malinda Lo and Jodi Picoult, as well as parents, educators and the Iowa State Education Association, filed the legal action Thursday in federal district court in the Southern District of Iowa.

“Authors have the right to communicate their ideas to students without undue interference from the government,” the lawsuit said.

The law, Senate File 496, bans books with sexual content all the way through 12th grade and has an exception for religious texts. It also bans books that address gender identity or sexual orientation for students through sixth grade.

The lawsuit argues that the law violates the First and 14th amendments because it is a content-based restriction, restricts access to constitutionally protected books and is “unconstitutionally vague.”

The prohibition of books addressing gender identity and sexual orientation is a “sweeping prohibition” that is so broad that it could apply to “all gender identities and any depiction of a romantic relationship.” But in practice, only books containing LGBTQ themes, characters or authors have been prohibited, the suit argues.

It’s the second lawsuit filed against the Iowa law this week. The American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) of Iowa and Lambda Legal sued on Tuesday, arguing that the measure violates the constitutional rights of LGBTQ students.

“Friday Night Lights” author H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger previously said the ban was “absolutely tragic” and compared it to Nazi Germany.

Many famous books published by Penguin Random House (PRH) have been prohibited under the law, including George Orwell’s “1984,” “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, John Green’s “The Fault in Our Stars,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood.

“PRH’s mission is to ignite a universal passion for reading by creating books for everyone and creating a world where independent thinking, free expression, and creativity flourish,” the lawsuit said. “Continued inclusion of its books in public school libraries and classroom collections is critical to PRH’s mission, especially for books intended for elementary and young-adult readers.”

According to a statement released by the company, the publishing house is defending books in court because “censorship, in the form of book bans, is a direct threat to democracy” and its mission.

The law took effect July 1 and is the latest development in a series of states attempting to ban race, gender and sex related books in public schools.

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