Judge rejects Maryland parents’ motion to keep kids out of lessons with LGBTQ books

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request from a group of Maryland parents to require Montgomery County Public Schools to allow them to opt their children out of lessons with LGBTQ books.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman found that the parents, who are suing the school district over its decision to get rid of the opt-out policy, are unlikely to succeed on the merits and denied their request to keep the policy in place while the case proceeds.

Three sets of parents sued the Maryland school district in May after it said it would no longer allow parents to opt their children out of lessons that used a slate of newly approved LGBTQ-inclusive books. 

The parents argue that the books “contradict their sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage, human sexuality, and gender” and that the lack of an opt-out policy violates their children’s First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

However, Boardman noted that every court that has addressed similar questions about mandatory public school curriculums has found that “mere exposure in public school to ideas that contradict religious beliefs does not burden the religious exercise of students or parents.”

The judge found that the Maryland parents failed to show that the lack of an opt-out policy would result in the “indoctrination of their children” or “coerce their children to violate or change their religious beliefs.”

“The parents still may instruct their children on their religious beliefs regarding sexuality, marriage, and gender, and each family may place contrary views in its religious context,” Boardman wrote in Thursday’s order. 

“No government action prevents the parents from freely discussing the topics raised in the storybooks with their children or teaching their children as they wish,” she added.