4th Circuit ruling affirms Montgomery County school board’s authority on incorporating LGBTQIA+ books into English language arts curriculum.
A group of plaintiffs in Montgomery County cannot require the school board to provide notice of LGBTQIA+ inclusive books or an opt-out option for their children following a 2-1 decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on Wednesday. Judge G. Steven Agee authored the majority opinion where the 4th Circuit affirmed the parents have not met their burden to obtain a preliminary injunction.
A missing piece to the plaintiffs argument, as expressed by the majority opinion, is that the party failed to show that the LGBTQIA+ materials are being used to coerce the parents or children to behave in ways, or believe things, that are contrary to their religion. Therefore there was no proof of a burden restricting their right to freely exercise religion, which would have supported a constitutional claim. Without substantiating that argument, a preliminary injunction would have been granted simply based on a parents objection to the public school curriculum – a ruling that would be counter to existing case law.
Judge Agee, from the opinion:
“At present, however, no evidence in the record connects the requisite dots between the Parents’ children’s ages or mental capacity and their unknown exposure to the Storybooks to conclude that the Parents have already shown that a cognizable burden exists,” he wrote.
