DES Moines, Iowa — The The Iowa Board of Education proposed the advanced rules regarding the library restrictions provided for in the parental rights law.

The law bans sexually explicit books from public school libraries and prohibits instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

These are updated guidelines following a legal battle that initially blocked parts of the law.

Now in effect, the proposed rules state that public school libraries must contain only “age-appropriate material.”

“At any age, graphic or visual depictions of a sexual act that are not age appropriate, regardless of age. But there are judgments about age appropriateness in addition to graphic or visual depictions of a sexual act,” Thomas Mayes, general counsel for the Iowa Dept. of Education, said. “So I think the library program before this amendment never had any age appropriate restrictions in it. It was “Have a library program.”

It also said that schools would have to have a list of all books available on its website and clarified that it only refers to libraries over which schools have control.

In terms of prohibiting the promotion or instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation, school personnel may still make neutral statements about those topics.

“I think this is a good effort to at least promote that public policy that not every mention that LGBTQ+ people exist is promotion,” Mayes said.

Iowans will have a chance to comment on these new rules during a public hearing on Dec. 11.

The department said they had already heard feedback about making a distinction between gender identity and the provision of books. There was major confusion on the part of librarians and school staff about how to implement the law. One part they said was unclear was whether books that mention the LGBTQ+ community should also be removed.

During the court proceedings, the state said it did not apply to the books — only the promotion and education of gender identity and sexual orientation.

However, as of now, there is nothing in the proposed rules that mentions this distinction.

“Having a library book that has an LGBTQ+ theme or character no, that’s not promotion or instruction,” Mayes said. “It’s a book and the department’s subject matter experts have done that, but we haven’t had time to incorporate that based on the schedule of sending you materials.”