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Records exclusively reported by the Des Moines Register reveal how far some parents took their fight to remove two books they believed were inappropriate from schools — before Republicans passed a new law that bans them.
Emails obtained by the Register show that some residents took their cause to the Polk County Attorney’s Office in late 2021 to accuse the West Des Moines Community School District of giving pornography to children. Signed by four people, a letter asked for a criminal investigation over two books available in school libraries: “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, which both are acclaimed LGBTQ memoirs with sexual content.
One of those people was Teri Patrick, who is running for school board in West Des Moines in the Nov. 7 election. She’s also listed as the education chair for the Polk County chapter of Moms for Liberty, the conservative activist group that has the support of Gov. Kim Reynolds. Patrick did not respond to text messages, emails or a phone call for comment on this story.
But the path of “Gender Queer” in West Des Moines illustrates the frustration some activists felt over the book challenge process that was channeled into the sweeping new education law, Senate File 496, which took effect July 1.
Since the spring, the Register has been exploring the events leading up to, and the impact of, the law, which bans books with sex acts from Iowa schools and prohibits instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation in younger grades. School districts have started removing books from their library shelves to comply with the law — pulling classic novels, popular young adult fiction, dystopian novels, children’s books with LGBTQ themes and more.
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Some parents frustrated by multi-step book reconsideration process
Before the new law passed in May, school districts in Iowa had a formal process in place for residents to challenge books they believed should be restricted or removed, and they still do. It typically involves filling out a form to make the case in writing; a district committee reading the book, reviewing the complaint and making a recommendation about whether to keep or restrict the work; and multiple steps of appeal that ultimately could reach the school board for a vote.
But Iowa Republicans have said they heard from parents the system was difficult to navigate. Other proponents of SF 496 also said the process was too lengthy, subjective, biased and ultimately did not address their concerns about what they felt was obscene material in schools.
Patrick used that system to formally challenge “Gender Queer” in October 2021, according to West Des Moines school district documents. “Gender Queer” is a coming-of-age visual memoir that traces Kobabe’s real-life journey with sexuality and gender and includes frank images of masturbation, nudity and sexual fantasy.
According to the October 2021 challenge form, Patrick did not want the book available at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School. She believed the book to be pornographic and sexually explicit and felt law enforcement should investigate if the district had violated Iowa law related to distributing obscene material.
Two committees keep ‘Gender Queer’ on the shelf
An initial building-level committee reviewed the book and appeal in November 2021. The committee determined that “Gender Queer” was properly selected under school policy calling for the library to have books with a wide range of topics, views and backgrounds. It found that the book is autobiographical with literary merit, not pornographic.
Patrick appealed, and an administration-level committee also voted to keep the book in January 2022. The committee found that “Gender Queer” is an autobiographical memoir that could help students find a sense of belonging, and that parents were able to limit what books their children could check out.
The superintendent decided to uphold the decision, and Patrick took her request to the school board in March 2022. She told the board she believed there could be books to support LGBTQ students and literature students could connect with that did not have the content she objected to in “Gender Queer.”
Patrick’s challenge to “Gender Queer” was one of 100 school book challenges that the Register documented statewide in the period between August 2020 and May 2023, before SF 496 took effect. Parents and caregivers had challenged the book eight times in schools across Iowa during that time period.
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Parent takes ‘Gender Queer’ challenge to the state
The West Des Moines school board also opted to keep “Gender Queer” on the shelf as a book with literary and artistic merit. One board member — incumbent Jeff Hicks, who also is running in this year’s election — said during the hearing it seemed insulting to suggest that educators, who devote their lives to protecting children, were distributing pornography.
Patrick then appealed the board’s decision to the Iowa Board of Education. Following an administrative law hearing before a judge in the summer of 2022, the state board voted in August 2022 that it did not have jurisdiction in the case, given Patrick’s child was in 10th grade and not a student at the freshman high school at the time of the complaint.
The school board’s decision stood.
Residents tried to get the county attorney to criminally investigate the school district
In the middle of Patrick’s challenge process, she and three other people wrote to then-Polk County Attorney John Sarcone on Dec. 14, 2021, asking his office to investigate the West Des Moines school district for allegedly violating state law about giving obscene material to minors.
The Register obtained the letter and email chain and verified them through a public records request with Polk County. Three of the people who signed the letter could not be reached for comment, and the Register is not identifying them as private individuals.
The materials they questioned were the two LGBTQ memoirs available in high school libraries: “Gender Queer” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” The letter alleged that the district was distributing pornography to children and called the reconsideration policy inadequate to address the issue. Like “Gender Queer,” Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is an award-winning memoir that’s based on the author’s real life and contains scenes depicting overt sexual activity.
“As your office serves as the chief law enforcement of the county, we are writing to inform you of incidents where pornographic material is being disseminated to children,” the letter says. “The written descriptions and images in these books are blatant … such that immediate action should be taken.”
One of the writers of the letter followed up as Patrick’s challenge and appeals continued. One parent, they wrote, tried to file a police report over the books.
After the West Des Moines school board voted to keep “Gender Queer” on the shelf, the writer said in an April 2022 email that they felt like they were “being passed from public resource to public resource,” and felt limited by the existing book challenge process. The person raised the possibility of the county attorney pursuing a civil court proceeding under a section of Iowa obscenity law.
A West Des Moines police officer wrote back to say that the matter was likely civil, not criminal, and the police department would not be an appropriate resource.
No court case appears to have been filed against the school district over “Gender Queer” or “All Boys Aren’t Blue.”
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Conservative activists then took their case to the Iowa Legislature and lobbied them to change the law.
In 2023, Republican legislators examined and criticized the existing book reconsideration process during the legislative session before they passed SF 496. The West Des Moines district has since removed “Gender Queer,” “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and 45 other books to comply with the new law, according to recent Register data.
The Register has learned that the Carlisle school district pulled “Gender Queer” under SF 496 after the school board voted in 2022 to keep it on the shelf following a formal appeal. The Urbandale school district also removed “Gender Queer” from its collection after a committee voted to retain the book in 2021.
Norwalk, West Des Moines, Iowa City, Urbandale, Riverside and Louisa-Muscatine all have removed “All Boys Aren’t Blue.”
“Gender Queer” had been removed in Ankeny, Waukee and Indianola schools before SF 496 passed.
Des Moines Register reporter Katie Akin contributed to this story.
Chris Higgins covers the eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at [email protected] or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter @chris_higgins_.