In a six to three ruling, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Maryland parents saying they should have the option to opt their children out of hearing LGBTQ+ themed children books for religious reasons. Dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the move will spell “chaos for this nation’s public schools.”
Mahmoud v Taylor involves three sets of parents — one Muslim, one Catholic and one Orthodox Christian — and the school board of Montgomery County, an affluent suburb of Washington D.C. The parents argued that the school forced their children to hear stories that went against the parents beliefs, including Uncle Bobby’s Wedding and Born Ready: The True Story of A Boy Named Penelope, by not giving advance notice and the ability to opt their children out. They argued such books promote “political ideologies about family life and human sexuality that are inconsistent with sound science, common sense, and the well-being of children.”
For its part, the school, in essence, argued that they should not have to send notification simply because a book might be objectionable.
The majority opinion, penned by conservative justice Samuel Alito, ruled “Until all appellate review in this case is completed, the [school] board should be ordered to notify [parents] in advance whenever one of the books in question or any other similar book is to be used in any way and to allow them to have their children excused from that instruction.”
Sotomayor argued that “simply being exposed to beliefs contrary to your own” does not prohibit the free exercise of religion. “Requiring schools to provide advance notice and the chance to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs will impose impossible administrative burdens on schools,” she adds.
In a statement, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, which filed an amicus curiae in the case on behalf of Taylor, agreed with the dissent. “Simply allowing children to learn the fundamental reality that LGBTQ people exist in the world, and to learn about their perspectives and experiences does not infringe on anyone’s First Amendment rights,” he said, continuing. “There’s little doubt that Christian nationalist groups will soon seek the right to opt out from any educational content they object to. It’s a dangerous slippery slope that starts with discrimination against the gay community, but doesn’t stop there.”
While this is not technically a ban on books, it does make the process of including books that often face challenges — overwhelmingly books with LGBTQ+ themes per the American Library Association — so difficult they may effectively be left out of curricula altogether.
