A federal appeals court had ruled that the school board’s policy did not interfere with the parents’ right to free exercise of religion.
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 ruled for parents in Maryland who, for religious reasons, want to opt their young children out of school storybooks that promote LGBT lifestyles.
The majority opinion in the 6–3 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor was written by Justice Samuel Alito.
The decision reverses a federal appeals court ruling that held that the parents failed to show that the school board’s policy infringed on their constitutional right to free exercise of religion.
The ruling allows litigation to continue in the lower courts.
The Supreme Court held that the parents met the legal burden required for a preliminary injunction to block the school board’s policy not to grant opt-outs.
“A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill. And a government cannot condition the benefit of free public education on parents’ acceptance of such instruction,” Alito wrote.
The court held that the parents were likely to succeed in their challenge to the board’s policies.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The case goes back to November 2022, when the Montgomery County Board of Education mandated new “LGBTQ-inclusive” storybooks for elementary school students that promote gender transitions, Pride parades, and same-sex romance between young children.
The board instructed employees responsible for selecting the books to use an “LGBTQ+ Lens” and to question whether “cisnormativity,” “stereotypes,” and “power hierarchies” are “reinforced or disrupted,” according to the petition filed on Sept. 12, 2024.
Parents were initially told they could opt out their children when the storybooks were read, the petition said. The board changed its policy in March 2023. Beginning with the 2023–24 academic year, the opt-out option was no longer in effect.
“If parents did not like what was taught to their elementary school kids, their only choice was to send them to private school or to homeschool,” the petition said.
