Supreme Court sides with parents trying to opt-out their kids having to read LGBTQ-themed books

The most religiously diverse county in America must stop withholding notice and opt-out to parents when it uses "LGBTQ+-inclusive" storybooks in the curriculum for children as young as 3, the Supreme Court ruled Friday in Mahmoud v. Taylor , "until all appellate review in this case is completed."

It remanded the case to district court to issue a preliminary injunction against the no-exceptions policy by Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools, a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C., which Muslim and Christian parents challenged as an infringement of their right to control their children's religious education.

"The Board should be ordered to notify the petitioners in advance whenever one of the books in question or any other similar book is to be used in any way and to allow them to have their children excused from that instruction," the 6-3 majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito said, uniting the court's conservatives. Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissent joined by fellow liberals.

"The parents are likely to succeed on their claim that the Board’s policies unconstitutionally burden their religious exercise" by "substantially interfer[ing] with the religious development" of their children, the majority said. 

"The books are unmistakably normative. They are designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated, and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected," it said, contradicting the board's claim the books simply teach children respect.

"The storybooks unmistakably convey a particular viewpoint about same-sex marriage and gender. And the Board has specifically encouraged teachers to reinforce this viewpoint and to reprimand any children who disagree," the majority said.

The conservatives had harsh words for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which claimed the parents weren't specific enough in describing how the books "are actually being used in classrooms." They "need not wait for the damage to occur" when they face "deprivation of First Amendment rights," Alito wrote, saying SCOTUS precedents are unambiguous.

Public schools offer "an education and an opportunity to practice living in our multicultural society," Sotomayor's dissent says. "Yet it will become a mere memory if children must be insulated from exposure to ideas and concepts that may conflict with their parents’ religious beliefs. Today’s ruling ushers in that new reality."