As was expected after arguments in April, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a group of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim parents in Maryland who sought to pull their children from lessons with LGBTQ themes. In a 6-3 ruling, with the court's three liberal justices dissenting, the court overturned a lower court's decision not to require the Montgomery County school board to allow opt-outs, reports Reuters. The parents said they weren't seeking to ban storybooks with LGBTQ characters, only to have their children excused from lessons that they said violated their religious beliefs.
"Today, we hold that the parents have shown that they are entitled to a preliminary injunction," Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. "A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses 'a very real threat of undermining' the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill." The court ruled that while litigation continues, the school board, Maryland's largest, must notify parents when storybooks with LGBTQ characters or themes will be used, and must allow them to have their children excused, the Washington Post reports.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent quoted from a 1987 opinion describing public schools as "at once the symbol of our democracy and the most pervasive means for promoting our common destiny," per SCOTUSblog. She argued that the idea will become a "mere memory ... if children must be insulated from exposure to ideas and concepts that may conflict with their parents' religious beliefs." The school board initially allowed opt-outs but later withdrew the policy, saying it had become disruptive. The AP notes that three Supreme Court justices live in the county, but they don't send their children to public schools.
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