OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — In Iowa, a new school year is quickly approaching for most schools.
That means students experiencing new classes, new teachers and this year, libraries whose shelves are missing a few well known novels.
"We are erasing the entire LGBTQ+ population from half of our public schools. It is crazy," said Sara Parris, one of the founding members of Annie's Foundation.
Annie's Foundation is a grassroots non-profit organized in Johnston, Iowa was established to fight back against book bans in public schools and libraries.
Her organization has successfully challenged book bans in the past, but they are facing a new challenge with the passage of Senate File 492.
"Even before the legislation passed, it was very hard. We would do open information requests and a lot of times they would throw up barriers. Make the cost such that it was not something that a nonprofit like ours could reasonably obtain," said Parris.
The new law bans any mention of sexual orientation or gender identity and any depictions of sexual acts for grades kindergarten through sixth grade, although religious texts like the Bible and Quran are exempt.
But what qualifies a book for a ban is still up in the air.
"The Department of Education has refused to provide any guidance. They said that someone finally said we will give you some but they have given no indication of when that's coming," said Parris.
We reached out to several area schools to see whether the Iowa Department of Education had offered guidance.
Several did not return our request for comment but Council Bluff's Community Schools Chief Communication Officer Diane Ostrowski confirmed they have not received any guidance as of Wednesday.
Without guidance, schools are having to come up with their own systems. Right now only one district, Urbandale, has released a list of books that could potentially be removed.
In a statement on its Facebook page, Urbandale schools say they have also not received any guidance.
Its list includes 374 titles, with well-known classics like Catcher in the Rye, A Farewell to Arms, Handmaid's Tale and Perks of Being a Wallflower.
The potential bans aren't just irking organizations like Annie's Foundation and Iowa Democrats, who all voted to oppose the bill, but some conservatives as well.
Iowa State Representative Jeff Shipley, who supports the bill and has been a vocal critic of librarians, wasn't too keen on seeing a few of his favorite books on Urbandale's list.
In a Facebook post, Shipley lamented the inclusion of 1984 and A Brave New World saying, "Both of these titles are devoid of the raunchy and lascivious sex acts in the dozen or so other titles that triggered the concerns of parents…"
For Parris, she expects more will have a reaction similar to Shipley's when they see how far-reaching this book ban could be.
"Getting people to notice. There are people who had no idea this was going on. Now that they can actually see the impact, it's making people take notice and it's making them mad — and that's good," said Parris.
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