SCOTUS takes up case on LGBTQ+, inclusive books in schools
Demonstrators on both sides protested as the Supreme Court heard a school district’s case on parents’ rights and LGBTQ+ books.
WASHINGTON − A divided Supreme Court has sided with a group of parents who want to remove their elementary school children from class when storybooks with LGBTQ+ characters are read in public schools, another move that favors claims of religious discrimination over other values, like gay rights.
In a 6-3 decision that has implications for public schools across the country, the court said on June 27 that a Maryland public school district’s refusal to allow opt-outs burdens parents’ First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion.
Justices said the school must allow opt-outs while the legal challenge continues.
The case was one of the most high-profile of the court’s current term and comes as parents are increasingly demanding a say in what their children are taught in public schools. The ruling also comes amid a broader movement to curb the rights of LGBTQ+ people, with legislatures in Republican-led states pushing to censor teaching about LGBTQ+ history and culture in classrooms.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the court has long recognized the rights of parents to direct their children’s religious upbringing.
The books, he said, “unmistakably convey a particular viewpoint about same-sex marriage and gender.”
“And the (school) Board has specifically encouraged teachers to reinforce this viewpoint and to reprimand any children who disagree,” he wrote.
In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision “threatens the very essence of public education,” which includes exposure to new ideas.
“The Court, in effect, constitutionalizes a parental veto power over curricular choices long left to the democratic process and local administrators,” she wrote. “The reverberations of the Court’s error will be felt, I fear, for generations.”
The Maryland parents – who include Muslims, Roman Catholics and Ukrainian Orthodox followers – said they’re not trying to prevent other students from reading the books.
But free speech advocates argued that will be the practical effect.
And national organizations representing school administrators worried schools could face a “bewildering variety” of religious rights claims.
In classrooms across the country, children are routinely taught ideas that conflict with their family’s religious beliefs, lawyers for the Montgomery County Public Schools told the court during April’s oral arguments.
The Liberty Counsel, a religious freedom advocacy group, praised the ruling.
“This U.S. Supreme Court has once again upheld that parents have the right to direct the education and provide for the welfare of their children,” said Mat Staver, the group’s founder and chairman.
“The First Amendment simply does not allow government schools to require families to sacrifice their religious beliefs for their children to attend school,” Staver said.
But PFLAG National, which works to educate the public on LGBTQ+ issues, called the ruling “heartbreaking.”
“This ruling does not erase what PFLAG parents, students, and educators have long known, and a vast body of research supports: All students benefit from a school climate that promotes inclusion, acceptance, and respect,” said Brian K. Bond, the group’s chief executive officer.
What are the controversial books?
School officials in Maryland said they introduced a handful of books with LGBTQ+ characters into the reading curriculum at the start of the 2022-2023 school year as part of an effort to better reflect the community.
The school system, in suburban Washington, is one of the nation’s largest and most ethnically and religiously diverse.
The controversial books include one in which the handsome prince falls in love not with a princess, but with the knight who helps him defeat a dragon. In another, “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” Chloe’s favorite uncle gets married to another man.
The book “Intersection Allies” features nine kids from different backgrounds, including Alejandra, who uses a wheelchair while playing basketball; Adilah, who wears a hijab in ballet class; and Kate, who prefers a superhero cape to “skirts and frills.”
After various teachers, administrators and parents raised concerns about the effectiveness and age-appropriateness of the books, the school system allowed students to be excused when they were read in class.
But officials said they had to stop that because the growing number of opt-out requests created other problems, such as high absenteeism and the difficulty of arranging alternate instruction. They also said students who believe the storybooks represent them and their families could face social stigma and isolation if classmates leave the room when the books are read.
Some parents said the books conflict with their faith
The parents who then sued said they shouldn’t have to send their kids to private school or to homeschool to avoid instruction that goes against the tenets of their religions.
“Intentionally exposing our young, impressionable, elementary-aged son to activities and curriculum on sex, sexuality, and gender that undermine Islamic teaching on these subjects would be immoral and would conflict with our religious duty to raise our children in accordance with our faith,” parents Tamer Mahmoud and Enas Barakat said in a court filing about why they didn’t want their son to be part of his second grade class’s reading of “Prince & Knight.”
But a divided panel of appeals court judges said the parents hadn’t shown that they or their children had been coerced to believe or act contrary to their religious views.
The parents asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
The Trump administration backed the parents, saying the schools had put “a price on a public benefit of public education at the expense of foregoing your religious beliefs.”
This story has been updated to add additional comments about the ruling.
