Last week the Urbandale School District made waves when it released a list of 382 books it said would be pulled from the district in an effort to comply with new state law.
That list of 382 books included various classics and caused much conversation.
Now, about one week later, the district is cutting the original list of 382 titles down to 65.
According to KCCI, an email sent to Urbandale parents noted the district misunderstood the new law.
“Our understanding of SF496 was that any book that contained topics related to gender identity, sexual orientation or sex acts would need to be removed,” the email reportedly said.
The district then came up with the list of 382 books based on that criteria before any of those books were determined to actually violate the law.
The law simply defined what is not considered “age-appropriate” for Iowa schools.
“Age-appropriate does not include any material with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act as defined in section 702.17.”
Iowa Code 702.17 defines “sex act” or “sexual activity” as any sexual contact between two or more persons by: penetration of the penis into the vagina or anus; contact between the mouth and genitalia or by contact between the genitalia of one person and the genitalia or anus of another person; contact between the finger or hand of one person and the genitalia or anus of another person; except in the course of examination or treatment by a person licensed pursuant to chapter 148, 148C, 151 or 152; or by use of artificial sexual organs or substitutes therefore in contact with the genitalia or anus.”
The district’s new list of 65 titles includes:
*The Handmaids Tale
*Flamer
*Lawn Boy
*Tricks
*All Boys Aren’t Blue
*Gender Queer
*A Court of Mist and Fury
*Sold
*Push
The district, according to KCCI, said those books contain “descriptions or visual depictions of sex.”
