A group of three sets of parents — who are Jewish, Muslim, and Christian — in Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools are being forced to subject their children to lessons that involve LGBT-inclusive materials after a divided three-judge panel on a federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected their bid to opt out of having their kids exposed to the materials, which directly go against their religious beliefs.
According to The Hill, the parents argued that the LGBT-inclusive materials “contradict their sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage, human sexuality, and gender” and that the lack of an opt-out policy violates their children’s First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion.
However, the 2-1 panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia upheld a lower court’s decision to deny a preliminary injunction and ruled that Maryland parents cannot opt their children out of LGBT-inclusive book curricula in classrooms .
According to them, the parents had not yet demonstrated how the school board’s book policy would infringe on their right to free religious expression.
The case is Mahmoud v. McKnight, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-1890.
The controversy centered around a set of LGBT-inclusive storybooks that the Montgomery County Board of Education approved for use in the public school curriculum in 2022.
According to KDFW, these books include “Pride Puppy” by Robin Stevenson, an alphabet book about a dog who gets lost during a “pride” parade and “Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope” by Jodie Patterson, which recounts her “transgender” daughter’s experiences.
Another of the books was “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” which is about Chloe who is upset after finding out her favorite Uncle Bobby is getting married.
“But after a magical day with Uncle Bobby and his boyfriend, Jamie, Chloe realizes she’s not losing an uncle, but gaining one,” a description of the book said.
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The lone dissenting vote came from former President Donald Trump appointee U.S. Circuit Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr., who argued that the board violated parents’ right to influence their children’s religious upbringing.
“The parents have shown the board’s decision to deny religious opt-outs burdened these parents’ right to exercise their religion and direct the religious upbringing of their children by putting them to the choice of either compromising their religious beliefs or foregoing a public education for their children,” Quattlebaum wrote, according to Fox News.
“I also find that the board’s actions, at least under this record, were neither neutral nor generally applicable. Finally, I find the parents have established the other requirements for a preliminary injunction.
“So, I would reverse the district court and enjoin the Montgomery County School Board of Education from denying religious opt-outs for instruction to K-5 children involving the texts,” Quattlebaum concluded.
The two judges who voted in favor of denying the Maryland parents the right to opt-out of having their children exposed to the public school system’s LGBT-inclusive curriculum were former President George W. Bush and President Joe Biden appointees.
President Bush appointed U.S. Circuit Judge G. Steven Agee, who writing for the majority in the opinion said, “We take no view on whether the Parents will be able to present evidence sufficient to support any of their various theories once they have the opportunity to develop a record as to the circumstances surrounding the Board’s decision and how the challenged texts are actually being used in schools.”
“At this early stage, however, given the Parents’ broad claims, the very high burden required to obtain a preliminary injunction, and the scant record before us, we are constrained to affirm the district court’s order denying a preliminary injunction,” he continued, in the opinion, which was joined by President Biden appointee U.S. Circuit Judge DeAndrea Benjamin.
Prior to the 2023-2024 school year, parents had the option to opt their children out of reading the LGBT-inclusive books. However, the board abandoned the opt-out option this year, which prompted the lawsuit against Maryland County’s Public Schools.
