A plea by a group of Maryland parents to mandate that Montgomery County Public Schools grant them the option to opt their children out of lessons including LGBTQ-inclusive content was denied by a federal appeals court.
The parents had not yet shown how the nation’s board of education book policy will violate their right to free expression of religion, so a divided three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court judgment rejecting a preliminary injunction.
The Maryland school system was sued by three sets of parents—Muslim, Jewish, and Christian—as well as a parental rights organization after the district announced that parents would no longer be able to opt their children out of classes that used a selection of recently authorized LGBTQ-inclusive materials.
The books, according to the parents, “contradict their sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage, human sexuality, and gender,” and their children’s First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion is violated by the lack of an opt-out clause.
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Writing for the majority in the ruling, U.S. Circuit Judge G. Steven Agee stated that there was insufficient information in the record to determine the likelihood of the case based on how the books were used in the classroom.
“We take no view on whether the Parents will be able to present evidence sufficient to support any of their various theories once they have the opportunity to develop a record as to the circumstances surrounding the Board’s decision and how the challenged texts are actually being used in schools,” Agee, appointed by former President George W. Bush stated.
He went on in the opinion, which was joined by U.S., “At this early stage, however, given the Parents’ broad claims, the very high burden required to obtain a preliminary injunction, and the scant record before us, we are constrained to affirm the district court’s order denying a preliminary injunction.” President Biden nominated Circuit Judge DeAndrea Benjamin.
Former President Trump’s appointee, U.S. Circuit Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr., dissented, claiming the board infringed on parents’ rights to shape their children’s religious education.
“The court just told thousands of Maryland parents they have no say in what their children are taught in public schools,” Baxter stated. “That runs contrary to the First Amendment, Maryland law, the School Board’s own policies, and basic human decency.”
“Parents should have the right to receive notice and opt their children out of classroom material that violates their faith. We will appeal this ruling,” he continud.
