U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on student opt-outs for LGBTQ-related school curriculum
April 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court will rule on whether parents have the right to opt out their kids from school curriculum involving LGBTQ-related books.
On Tuesday, the justices will begin oral arguments in the case with a group of multi-faith parents from Montgomery County, Md., who argue that their children should be permitted to opt out based on religious grounds under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In the case, which began in 2022, the eight-member Montgomery County school board contends that education's purpose is to expose students to a mix of people, culture and ideas and that the Constitution does not grant a student the right to skip a lesson allegedly incompatible with their supposed personal beliefs.
In addition, educators say it would be a logistical nightmare to accommodate a student over a book versus an entire opted-out class like sex education, particularly for Montgomery County's more than 160,000 students.
"Research suggests that providing an opt out from an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum reduces the positive effects this curriculum has on school climate," court documents stated, adding the proposed opt out would "diminish the efficacy of the Board's LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, undermining its efforts to protect LGBTQ students."
Last year in March, the American Library Association said the number of book bans targeting public libraries in 2023 was up 92%, which nearly doubled from 2022.
One book at the center of this case, Uncle Bobby's Wedding, featured a gay character getting married, while Born Ready is about a transgender child who identified as a boy.
Its lead plaintiffs, Muslim parents Tamer Mahmoud and Enas Barakat along with a group of parents of other religious faiths, were not challenging the curriculum itself but its lack of opt-out options.
They allege that "compelling their elementary-age children to participate in instruction contrary to their parents' religious convictions violated the Free Exercise Clause," according to court documents.
The case questions whether "pubic schools burden parents' religious exercise when they compel elementary school children to participate in instruction on gender and sexuality against their parents' religious convictions and without notice or opportunity to opt out?"
Meanwhile, lower court rulings have sided with Montgomery County's school board.
A decision could arrived as early as June from the 6-3 majority conservative supreme court.
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