A recent bill that deals with banning gender identity and sexual orientation from public school curriculum was passed through the House. 

House File 348 details that a school district in Iowa cannot provide any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion or instruction that is related to gender identity or sexual orientation. The bill passed with a Republican majority vote, 62 to 35. House Representative for District 28 David Young (R-Van Meter) says that parents should have the say on when their child learns about certain social topics. 

“K through sixth grade. Human growth and development needs to be age appropriate and research based. And some schools, not all schools and some teachers, not all teachers are having, I think and many parents think as well, inappropriate conversations with kids at a very young age about gender and fluidity of gender and orientation and identity. And, you know, kids are just too young to understand these concepts. I would have been too young to understand all this.”

Senator for District 14 Sarah Trone-Garriott (D-West Des Moines) has concerns over any legislation that deals with banning sexual orientation and sexual identity discussions in schools. She explains that this type of legislation puts teachers in a position where they will get in trouble for acknowledging the LGBTQ community. 

“We need to be focusing on creating a great environment for kids to learn. And all of this micromanaging and surveillance is a real problem. So I’m really concerned about it. I don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t think it’s actually solving a problem that we have in the schools. And challenging issues are really best navigated by the local decision makers for their context, not creating one sweeping decision for the whole state.”

With a bill passing in the Iowa House, it is now in the Senate for consideration.