The Supreme Court sided Friday with parents seeking to opt their children out of required LGBTQ storybook lessons.
In an 6-3 ruling, the majority held that parents are likely to succeed in their claim that the school board’s decision violates their First Amendment rights.
“The Board’s introduction of the ‘LGBTQ+-inclusive’ storybooks, along with its decision to withhold opt outs, places an unconstitutional burden on the parents’ rights to the free exercise of their religion,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. “The parents have therefore shown that they are likely to succeed in their free exercise claims. They have likewise shown entitlement to a preliminary injunction pending the completion of this lawsuit.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan, wrote that schools should “offer to children of all faiths and backgrounds an education and an opportunity to practice living in our multicultural society.”
“That experience is critical to our Nation’s civic vitality,” she wrote. “Yet it will become a mere memory if children must be insulated from exposure to ideas and concepts that may conflict with their parents’ religious beliefs.”
The Montgomery County Board of Education refused in March 2023 to allow parents to opt out of mandatory storybook readings involving pronouns, transgender children and pride parades, despite initially promising they would be allowed to do so. Parents sued the district in May 2023.
Mahmoud v. Taylor is one of several religious liberty cases the justices considered this term.
The Supreme Court unanimously held that Wisconsin’s denial of a religious tax exemption to Catholic Charities violates the First Amendment. In a 4-4 May decision, the justices left in place a ruling that prevented establishing the nation’s first religious public charter school.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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