CNN
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The Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether schools can read LGBTQ+ books to elementary school students without giving parents the power to opt out of their children for religious reasons.
A lawsuit over a Maryland school district’s policy reached the Supreme Court amid an escalating culture war over transgender rights and how much control parents should have over school curriculum.
A group of mostly Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox parents sued Montgomery County Schools, saying the policy violated their First Amendment religious rights, and the court ruled that the policy violated fundamental constitutional rights. It had sought an injunction to block the policy while it considered a challenge to Article 1.
Lower federal courts have also made that request. A divided panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals held that refusing to opt out does not require students to “change their religious beliefs or behavior” and therefore violates parents’ religious freedom. It was ruled that it was not. The appeals court said because the case is in its early stages, it doesn’t yet know enough about how the books are being used to block implementation of the policy.
The Montgomery County Board of Education has approved a set of “LGBTQ-inclusive books” as part of the English curriculum in 2022. Initially, the school board allowed parents to opt out, but later changed its mind. The school board said it would be up to teachers to decide how to use the book in their classrooms.
But the policy prompted pushback from several people, including some teachers and principals who were concerned about whether the materials were appropriate for elementary school students, according to court records.
The parents who filed the lawsuit are not calling for a ban on books, but rather policies that deny children the opportunity to read.
“The new government-imposed orthodoxy on how children are ‘supposed’ to think about gender and sexuality is not a constitutional basis for ignoring children’s own parents,” the parents wrote in their appeal. I mentioned it inside.
