WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday took up a new dispute on the tensions between LGBT rights and religious rights by agreeing to hear a claim by parents of elementary school students in Maryland who objected to books available in classrooms concerning gender transition and same-sex relationships.
The case concerns a policy enacted by the Montgomery County Board of Education in November 2022 requiring new story books covering LGBT issues that could potentially be read in class.
One book titled “Pride Puppy!” concerns a puppy that gets lost during a gay rights parade.
Initially, the board indicated parents could opt their children out of the curriculum, but the following March it changed course.
Parents in the demographically diverse county, including Muslims and Eastern Orthodox Christians, objected, and some ultimately sued, saying their right to exercise their religious beliefs under the Constitution’s First Amendment were being violated.
The lead plaintiffs in the case are Tamer Mahmoud and Enas Barakat, Muslims who have a son in elementary school. Other plaintiffs are members of the Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox churches.
They are not challenging the curriculum itself, just the lack of an opt-out.
A federal judge and the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled in favor of the school board.
The appeals court ruling effectively finding that “parents essentially surrender their right to direct the religious upbringing of their children by sending them to public schools — contradicts centuries of our history and traditions,” lawyers for the parents wrote in court papers.
