House File 2338, formerly HF 2121, a bill proposed by Republican state representative Helena Hayes that prohibits the teaching of gender theory and sexual orientation, advanced through the Iowa House Education Committee on Feb. 4 by a 14-9 vote. Now, the bill will be reviewed by the full House on a later date.
If passed, this bill will prohibit all public schools, including school districts, charter schools and innovation zones, from providing any curriculum on sexual orientation and gender theory for students in grades K-12.
This includes questionnaires, surveys or general programs. House File 2338 builds on the sweeping education bill Senate File 496, which only prohibited teaching this curriculum through grade six.
Monique Shore `90, the current president of PFLAG Grinnell/Poweshiek County, an organization dedicated to supporting and educating LGBTQIA+ people and their loved ones, says that this push is dangerous. “Young people need access to information about what they are going through,” she said.
for a portrait in Saint’s Rest. (Hana Hashimoto)
Gender theory is defined in the state of Iowa as “the concept that an individual may properly be described in terms of an internal sense of gender that is incongruent with the individual’s sex as either male or female.” This includes the discussion of puberty blockers and surgical procedures as a viable option for those who experience “discomfort” in schools.
‘Sexual orientation’ is defined as “actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality.”
Shore said she thinks this bill would be difficult for educators across the state to enforce. “There’s no way that you can enforce something that is so broad, because it would impact the vast majority of literature,” Shore said.
In an email to The S&B, Rep. Helena Hayes wrote, “After years of derailing education and low achievement scores, this bill will help our schools focus on the core priority — academic excellence.”
The Iowa Department of Education released new school performance ratings in September of 2025 that showed nearly 56 percent of Iowa schools ranked in the top three of six rating categories, up 10 percentage points from 46 percent last year.
In 2024, the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranked Iowa seventh in overall child well-being and 13th in Education. Iowa has declined overall in the percentages of fourth graders not proficient in reading and of eighth graders not proficient in math. However, Iowa is above the national average in proficiency.
Shore said that because PFLAG cannot control what is happening at the state level, they work to find ways in the community to let those who identify as LGBTQIA+ know they are supported. After the removal of gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Code, PFLAG created a Q&A booklet that provides information about local support systems. The booklet is currently available at Grinnell-Newburg High School.
Hayes wrote that she is not worried about the implications this could have on children’s mental health and that, regarding student safety, “all the policies and procedures for this are already in place and simply need to be followed.”
“Someone’s politics will always shape education,” Hayes wrote, adding that it is simply a question of whose politics do the shaping. “Do we create students who love America or do we destroy it from within by graduating students who think communism and socialism are the answers to today’s challenges?”
