US Supreme Court allows parents to opt out of lessons with LGBT books
The United States Supreme Court took on the side of the parents of the Maryland state who wanted to remove their children from reading books with LGBTQ themes.
The judges voted 6-3 to support the group of parents who declared that a study program adopted in 2022 by the public schools of the county of Montgomery for the children of the primary age violated their religious rights.
The majority of the court said that the parents who had brought the case were entitled to a preliminary injunction during its procedure.
The introduction of books “as well as his decision to retain opt-outs impose an unconstitutional burden on the rights of parents on the free exercise of their religion,” wrote Judge Samuel Alito.
The decision granted the preliminary reparation, arguing that parents have shown that their case is likely to succeed in their merits, they are likely to undergo irreparable damage in its absence and that an injunction would be in the public interest.
The three liberal judges dissident.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion that the result of the case will be “chaos for public schools of this nation”.
“Given the great diversity of religious beliefs in this country, countless interactions that occur every day in public schools could expose children to messages that conflict with parents’ beliefs,” she added.
The parents involved represent several different faiths, but all oppose their children to be presented to the LGBTQ themes.
The first amendment of the American Constitution protects the right to freely exercise its religious beliefs, which, according to the parents, includes the right to withdraw their children from the lessons they find offensive.
They also underlined the rules of the school which allow parents to opt for older children in sex education.
The books include the marriage of Uncle Bobby, who tells the story of a girl told about her uncle’s planned gay marriage, and born ready: the true story of a boy named Penelope, on a transgender boy.
Parents argued that they had no objection to books on the shelf or available in the library.
The public schools of the county of Montgomery, the largest school system in Maryland, added the books in order to provide greater diversity in the stories that children read. In 2023, he deleted the withdrawal option because it caused class disturbances and could expose LGBTQ students to social stigma and isolation.
Friday, in a statement, Kelley Robinson, president of the human rights campaign, said that “the decision indicates not only to LGBTQ + students that they do not belong, but that their experiences and their existence are less worthy of respect”.
During an audience for the case earlier this year, the judges seemed divided along the ideological lines. The conservative majority of the Court expressed its sympathy for the group’s argument.
