The Supreme Court opposes parents in the legal struggle on LGBTQ books at school

The Supreme Court judged on Friday that a group of Maryland parents have the right to opt for school lessons who could violate their beliefs in a case focused on religious freedom.

The judges decided 6-3 according to ideological lines in Mahmoud c. Taylor that parents can exclude their children from a Maryland public system which contains themes on homosexuality and transgender if they consider that material conflicts are confronted with their religious faith.

“A government provides parents’ religious exercise when it forces them to submit their children to an investigation which constitutes” a very real threat to undermine “the beliefs and religious practices that parents wish to instill,” said Judge Samuel Alito for the majority. “And a government cannot condition the benefit of free public education on the parents’ acceptance of this instruction.”

The case occurred by public schools in the county of Montgomery incorporating books in their nursery school in the 12th year of the arts of the language of the arts of the arts a few years ago which presented “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer characters”, declared lawyers from the school district to the Supreme Court.

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People supporting the right to opt for their children outside the courses containing content related to the LGBTQ demonstrate outside the Supreme Court, as the court hears oral arguments in the Mahmoud c. Taylor, in Washington, DC, April 22, 2025. (Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)

Lawyers said that the school district had done it as part of an effort to be “culturally reactive” and teach lessons that encourage “equity, respect and civility”.

The parents of Maryland who continued declared in their petition before the High Court that the school board presented books to their primary students who promoted “gender transitions, parades of pride and a romance of same -sex game”.

Parents said the school board initially authorized parents to withdraw their children from the lessons involving these books, but then ceased to do so.

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They also declared that the presence of books had created “indirect pressure to renounce a religious practice”, which created enough burden to violate their rights of religious freedom.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, writing for dissent, said that students’ exposure to the fact that “LGBTQ persons exist” do not justify intervention by the Supreme Court. Sotomayor said she thought that the high court’s decision would open the valves for students to withdraw from a wider range of lessons.

“The result will be chaos for public schools in this country,” wrote Sotomayor. “Obligning schools to provide notice and the possibility of withdrawing from each lesson or tale plan which could involve the religious beliefs of a parent will impose impossible administrative charges on schools.”

Parents who brought the costume cover a range of religious horizons. Tamer Mahmoud and Enas Barakat are Muslims, while others fall under different denominations of Christianity.

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Ricky Rosé reads a children’s book during a gathering like oral arguments on Mahmoud c. Taylor were heard on April 22, 2025. (John McDonnell / For the Washington Post via Getty Images)

During the oral arguments, judge Clarence Thomas questioned a lawyer representing the schools of the county of Montgomery to find out if the books simply existed in class or were actively presented to the students.

The lawyer said that the teachers gave lessons to the students involving the books in question five times during the school year.

Rosalind Hanson, a member of the conservative group Moms for Liberty, told Fox News Digital during a recent interview before the Supreme Court that she and other parents who helped the case “did not try to change the program” for parents who supported their children exposed to books.

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The members supporting the unsubscribe policy in public schools attend a rally as oral arguments on Mahmoud c. Taylor, a case of religious freedom involving the LBGTQ +program. (John McDonnell / For the Washington Post via Getty Images)

“The majority of states across the country have said that you could oppose these very sensitive problems and subjects, especially because of the religious component, but also because of the relevance of age,” said Hanson.

The secretary of the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, celebrated the decision as a victory for “parental rights” and a loss for “bureaucrats”.

“Parents have the right to know what their children learn at school and to exercise their freedom of religion in the first amendment to withdraw from division and ideological lessons that go against the values ​​and beliefs of their families,” said McMahon.