On Friday, the Supreme Court decided that parents in Maryland who disagree on religious grounds can remove their children from LGBTQ storybook lessons in public schools.
The justices overturned decisions from lower courts that had favored the suburban Washington school system of Montgomery County. The supreme court decided that if parents voiced religious objections to the books, the schools probably couldn’t make primary school students sit through classes including them.
The justices strongly implied that the parents would ultimately prevail, even if the decision was not a final one in the case.
The court decided that regulations like the one in question are almost always doomed since they are subject to the most stringent level of assessment.
In 2022, the school system launched the storybooks, which included Prince & Knight and Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, in an attempt to more accurately represent the variety of the district. A niece in Uncle Bobby’s Wedding is concerned that if her uncle marries someone else, he won’t have as much time for her.
The case is one of several religious freedom matters the court is considering this term, and the justices have frequently supported allegations of religious discrimination in recent years. The ruling also coincides with a rise in the number of books prohibited from public libraries and schools in recent years.
Moms for Liberty and other conservative groups that support greater parental control over the literature that students can access were responsible for organizing many of the removals. The Education Department dismissed 11 complaints submitted under Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, and labeled the book bans a hoax shortly after Republican President Donald Trump took office in January.
In a court filing in the Maryland case, the writers’ organization Pen America claimed that the parents who were opposing wanted a book ban that was constitutionally dubious under a different name. According to Pen America, almost 10,000 novels were prohibited during the previous academic year.
After a year of allowing parents to opt their children out of the courses for religious and other reasons, the school board changed its mind, which led to protests and ultimately a lawsuit.
A school district attorney told the justices during arguments in April that the opt-outs had become disruptive. According to attorney Alan Schoenfeld, the only subject taught in Montgomery schools that pupils are exempt from is sex education.
Since three justices reside in the county but did not send their kids to public schools, the case struck a particularly personal chord.
