CNA Staff, Jun 27, 2025 / 12:26 pm (CNA).
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a group of Maryland parents who had sued a school district over its refusal to allow families to opt their children out of LGBT-focused lessons.
In a 6-3 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court ruled on June 27 that the parents — who included Catholics, Orthodox, and Muslims — were “entitled to a preliminary injunction” against the Montgomery County Board of Education, one that will allow them to excuse their children from the controversial lessons while the case is remanded to lower courts for further proceedings.
The parents “are likely to succeed on their claim that the board’s policies unconstitutionally burden their religious exercise,” the court said.
The reading materials, the Supreme Court said — which include promotions of same-sex “marriages” — are “designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated, and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.”
The materials go beyond mere “exposure,” the justices said, and “burdens the parents’ right to the free exercise of religion.”
Under the district’s policy, the school board only permitted opt-outs in narrow circumstances, mostly related to sexual education in health class. It did not permit opt-outs for coursework that endorsed the views that there are more than two “genders,” that a boy can become a girl, or that homosexual marriages are moral.
Some of the coursework initially introduced in the curriculum was designed to promote these concepts to children as young as 3 years old in preschool.
One book involved in the dispute, called “Pride Puppy,” taught preschool children the alphabet with a story about a homosexual pride parade, which introduced children to words like “drag queen,” “leather,” and “zipper.”
It also introduced young children to Marsha B. Johnson, a drag queen, gay rights activist, and prostitute.
Lawyers with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represented the parents in their lawsuit. On Friday, Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, called the ruling “a historic victory for parental rights in Maryland and across America.”
“Kids shouldn’t be forced into conversations about drag queens, pride parades, or gender transitions without their parents’ permission,” he said. “Today, the court restored common sense and made clear that parents — not government — have the final say in how their children are raised.”
The lawsuit against the school district, located just north of Washington, D.C., was filed in May 2023.
The Supreme Court took up the controversial case in January of this year after two lower courts ruled against a group of parents who sued the Montgomery County board over the school district’s having provided LGBT-themed lessons and reading materials to their children.
Both the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled against the parents, claiming they had no right to be notified or opt their kids out of the sexuality-themed literature.
The school district initially allowed the parents to opt out but changed its policy less than a year later. It removed the LGBT puppy book and another book from the program curriculum last year, though the books were still available at school libraries.
During oral arguments in April, most of the justices on the high court appeared sympathetic toward the parents in their lawsuit.
In a dissent to the Friday ruling, Justice Sonia Sotomayor claimed the decision could usher in “chaos” for public schools around the country.
Sotomayor suggested that the LGBT materials in the dispute represented merely “a range of concepts and views” and “new ideas.”
“Requiring schools to provide advance notice and the chance to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs will impose impossible administrative burdens on schools,” she alleged.
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Halleluia!
Praise God.
Justice Sotomayor appears to be a statist. A statist view of schools is one where the student is the property of the state under the control of government schools that can do as they please with the students. Takes the public (parents) out of public schools. She might also want to review the age of consent laws and why we have them.
I think once children from all backgrounds and income levels are proficient in their grade levels at the basics–reading, very basic language skills, manners, writing with a pencil or pen (not just a keyboard), basic arithmetic, basic natural science (e.g., learning about the life cycle of butterflies, learning that plants need water, sunshine and good soil, recognizing various animals, learning about rocks, etc.), the basic history of their city, state and country, basic facts about the rest of the world and various traditions, all the various holidays, including the national holidays, and of course, MUSIC, art, and very simple theater, and BEING A GOOD CITIZEN who is kind and helpful and has good manners and doesn’t lie or steal or hurt anyone, and as long as the child is given plenty of time for free play and outdoor play on a playground or with various ball games and other games–well, then if there’s any time left in the school day (which seems to get shorter and shorter as the teacher unions get more powerful and demand more and more benefits such as “specialist educators other than the classroom teacher in all the various topics, along with higher salaries and more time off for teachers’ institutes, continuing education funded by the taxpayers, etc.)–THEN the little children can learn all about LGBTQ lifestyles and issues!
No apologies, public school teachers! My kids suffered through 3 wasted years of incompetent, lazy, demanding (higher salaries from the taxpayers, NOT good behavior or finished homework from their students!) teachers in public schools who refused to attempt to stop bullying in their school (because the children are supposed to be learning how to control their own behavior without intervention from adults!—I’m NOT kidding!) and who even refused to let the small children come into the warm school building during winter weather where the temperature was 20 degrees below zero and a wind child even colder!
Finally my late husband and I transferred them to a Country Day School where they ended up graduating at the top of their high school classes (and we both had to work full time to pay the tuition). It was well worth it. I think it’s time for public schools and public school teachers to be re-invented in the United States!