Iowa rights groups sue over law banning LGBTQ+ books and discussion in school

Suit by several families and organizations seek to have law declared as violation of students' and teachers' free speech

Several families are suing to stop Iowa's new law that bans books from school libraries, forbids teachers from raising LGBTQ+ issues and forces educators in some cases to out the gender identity of students to their parents.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and Lambda announced the federal lawsuit on Tuesday, saying the law passed earlier this year by the Republican-led legislature and enacted this fall seeks to silence LGBTQ+ students, erase any recognition of LGBTQ+ people from public schools, and bans books with sexual or LGBTQ+ content".