US SUPREME COURT CONSIDERS PARENTS' RIGHT TO EXEMPT CHILDREN FROM LGBTQ+ SCHOOL CURRICULUM

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On Tuesday, the conservative-leaning US Supreme Court will consider a case concerning whether parents have the religious authority to remove their children from class when books that contain LGBTQ-related material are read or discussed.

The court will consider an appeal brought by parents against a public school system in Maryland where, in 2022, the curriculum for kindergarten and elementary school pupils included materials that addressed homosexuality and gender identity and fought prejudice.

The schools had initially offered parents the chance to opt out of controversial coursework, but later retracted the option, saying: “These opt-outs were unworkable. Some schools, for example, experienced unsustainably high numbers of absent students.”

Parents are suing because the opt-outs were canceled. They say the schools’ inclusive curriculum choices infringe on their Christian and Muslim faiths and First Amendment rights.

The complaint alleges that the Montgomery County school board “wants to disrupt” parents’ rights to “pass those beliefs on to their young children.”

In several conservative areas, school systems have already banned books or cracked down on library catalogs because parents and conservative organizations believe it is improper for public places to have literature that they claim promote homosexuality and progressive, inclusive ideas.

In 2022, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed what is commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which forbids the teaching of topics pertaining to gender identity or sexual orientation in elementary schools.

According to established court practice, exposing pupils to concepts that are at odds with their religious beliefs does not amount to coercion.

The Justice Department of President Donald Trump’s administration supports the parents in the case, accusing the schools of “textbook interference with the free exercise of religion.”

The verdict of the supreme court, with its six conservative and three progressive judges, is likely before the current session finishes in late June.