WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday took up a brand new dispute on the tensions between LGBT rights and spiritual rights by agreeing to listen to a declare by dad and mom of elementary faculty college students in Maryland who objected to books obtainable in lecture rooms regarding gender transition and same-sex relationships.
The case considerations a coverage enacted by the Montgomery County Board of Education in November 2022 requiring new story books protecting LGBT points that might probably be learn in school.
One guide titled “Pride Puppy!” considerations a pet that will get misplaced throughout a homosexual rights parade.
Initially, the board indicated dad and mom may choose their kids out of the curriculum, however the next March it modified course.
Parents within the demographically numerous county, together with Muslims and Eastern Orthodox Christians, objected, and a few in the end sued, saying their proper to train their non secular beliefs underneath the Constitution’s First Amendment had been being violated.
The lead plaintiffs within the case are Tamer Mahmoud and Enas Barakat, Muslims who’ve a son in elementary faculty. Other plaintiffs are members of the Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox church buildings.
They aren’t difficult the curriculum itself, simply the dearth of an opt-out.
A federal choose and the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals each dominated in favor of the college board.
The appeals courtroom ruling successfully discovering that “dad and mom primarily give up their proper to direct the non secular upbringing of their kids by sending them to public faculties — contradicts centuries of our historical past and traditions,” legal professionals for the dad and mom wrote in courtroom papers.
