CV NEWS FEED // The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Jan. 17 to hear a Maryland case on whether religious parents have the right to opt their children out of pro-LGBT book readings at school.
The Court is expected to hear Mahmoud v. Taylor this spring, according to a Jan. 17 press release from the law organization Becket Fund.
Becket represents the Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish parents, who sued the Montgomery County Public Schools and then-Superintendent Monifa McKnight in August 2023 after the district denied students the ability to opt out, as CatholicVote previously reported.
The contended selection of books, introduced in 2022 for pre-kindergarteners through fifth graders, “champion controversial ideology around gender and sexuality,” Becket’s release stated. One book encouraged 3- and 4-year-olds to look for images in the book based on a word bank that listed words such as “intersex flag,” “drag queen,” “underwear,” “leather,” and “the name of a celebrated LGBTQ activist and sex worker,” according to the release.
In May 2024, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the parents who sought to protect their children from the inappropriate content. In September, Becket appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The School Board has pushed inappropriate gender indoctrination on our children instead of focusing on the fundamental areas of education that they need to thrive,” Grace Morrison, board member of opt-out advocacy association Kids First, stated in the release. “I pray the Supreme Court will stop this injustice, allow parents to raise their children according to their faith, and restore common sense in Maryland once again.”
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