In a 6-3 ruling the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Montgomery County parents that want the right to opt their elementary school children out of lessons including LGBTQIA+ themes.
As previously covered on Conduit Street, in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor a number of plaintiffs from Montgomery County Maryland were seeking to restore the ability to have their elementary school children in the public schools “opt out” of certain materials used in school curriculum based on religious objections. The case was sparked by the inclusion of five storybooks with LGBTQIA+ themes in course material. Initially the plaintiffs had been able to excuse their children from these lessons. The ability to request an “opt out” in this instance was later retracted by the school system. This move led to the plaintiffs’ claim that the absence of an option to remove their children from those lessons is unduly burdensome and restricts their right to freely exercise religion.
The court concluded:
The Board’s introduction of the “LGBTQ+-inclusive” storybooks, along with its decision to withhold opt outs, places an unconstitutional burden on the parents’ rights to the free exercise of their religion. The parents have therefore shown that they are likely to succeed in their free exercise claims. They have likewise shown entitlement to a preliminary injunction pending the completion of this lawsuit. In the absence of an injunction, the parents will continue to be put to a choice: either risk their child’s exposure to burdensome instruction, or pay substantial sums for alternative educational services. As we have explained, that choice unconstitutionally burdens the parents’ religious exercise, and “ ‘[t]he loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury.’ ”
This decision orders a preliminary injunction of the lower court rulings until the lawsuit is settled. In the meantime the school system is required to give advanced notice when one of the five books in question is to be used and allow an “opt out,” consistent with the schools original procedures.
From the opinion:
Specifically, until all appellate review in this case is completed, the Board should be ordered to notify them in advance whenever one of the books in question or any other similar book is to be used in any way and to allow them to have their children excused from that instruction.
The case will now continue in the lower courts with this recent guidance from SCOTUS.
