Religious Parents Demand to Opt Kids Out of LGBTQ+ Curriculum

Should parents have the right to prevent their children from learning about LGBTQ+-related issues in the classroom?

That’s the question at the heart of a legal dispute out of Maryland between a coalition of religious parents and a local school district. 

The parents argue that opting their children out of LGBTQ+ curriculum is a First Amendment right, but the school district says that the high volume of opt-outs would cause an overwhelming and untenable burden on school staff and resources.

When it comes to LGBTQ+ content and kids, who should have the final say: parents or schools?

To the Supreme Court

The case comes out of Montgomery County, Maryland, where a group of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish parents are asking the Supreme Court to hear their case against the Montgomery County Board of Education after a series of lower courts sided with the school district.

In the lawsuit, Mahmoud v. Taylor, the alliance of interfaith parents alleges that the school district is discriminating against the parents’ sincerely-held religious beliefs by not letting them opt-out of LGBTQ+-related instruction for their kids. 

“Parents know and love their children best; that’s why all kids deserve to have their parents help them understand issues like gender identity and sexuality,” said Eric Baxter, senior counsel at Becket, the legal firm representing the parents. “The school board’s decision to cut parents out of these discussions flies in the face of parental freedom, childhood innocence, and basic human decency.” 

What is the Content?

The content in question is largely aimed at grades K through 5, stemming from a new policy implemented in 2022. Per the legal filing by Becket, the new books and curriculum “champion pride parades, gender transitioning, and pronoun preferences for children.”

One book, the lawsuit alleges, “invites students to search for various images, including ‘underwear,’ ‘leather,’ ‘lip ring,’ ‘[drag] king’ and ‘[drag] queen,’” and another “invites children to ponder what it means to be ‘transgender’ or ‘non-binary.’”

Another book tells kids that adults only “guess about our gender” at birth, but that we “know ourselves best.”

Should Opt-Out be an Option?

Maryland is one of 38 states that allow parental opt-outs for health-related subjects – but the LGBTQ+-focused content is featured in a language arts class. 

The school district initially allowed parents to opt their children out of those courses anyway, but later recanted after finding that “individual schools could not accommodate the growing number of opt-out requests without causing significant disruptions to the classroom environment.”

However, parents argue that it doesn’t matter if the curriculum is in health class or language arts – nor is it relevant that the school feels burdened by the large number of opt-outs – it’s still a violation of their First Amendment rights.

As Becket’s senior counsel Eric Baxter put it, “parents shouldn’t have to take a back seat to anyone when it comes to introducing their children to complex and sensitive issues around gender and sexuality.”

On the other hand, creating alternative coursework for such a large amount of students is no easy task. Is it realistic to ask a school district, which is likely already stretched thin, to essentially double their workload? 

Critics also note that school is about challenging oneself and learning about the unfamiliar. Parents aren't doing their children any good by denying the reality of the LGBTQ+ community’s existence, they argue. 

What do you think? Should parents have the right to opt their children out of curriculum they disagree with, including LGBTQ+ content? Who should have the final say on what kids see in school?