Marland parents pleaded to opt out the lessons and instructions using LGBTQ children’s books.
On Thursday, Montgomery County parents pleaded in a federal district court to issue a ruling allowing them to choose whether or not their kids should be taught using LGBTQ children’s books.
A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Montgomery County parents cannot currently choose to have their children not attend lessons because the curriculum includes LGBTQ children’s books.
In Montgomery County Public Schools, a Maryland school system located just outside the capital of the United States, atheist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other parents have demanded the opportunity to opt out of an LGBTQ children’s books curriculum for pre-K through fifth grades.
On August 9, a number of parents from Montgomery County Public School submitted the request.
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The parents filed a lawsuit and asked the court for a preliminary injunction to compel the Montgomery County school system to reinstate the opt-out option until the issue was fully resolved.
Parents planned to obtain the injunction prior to the start of the new semester on Monday.
The parents’ motion was denied by district judge Deborah Boardman on Thursday because they failed to provide evidence that the use of the LGBTQ children’s books by the school system goes beyond what is legally permitted influence and may instead constitute unlawful indoctrination.
According to the policy, teachers will occasionally read one of the few LGBTQ children’s books, lead discussions and ask questions about the characters, and respond to questions and comments in ways that encourage tolerance for different views and lifestyles. Boardman, a President Joe Biden appointee, decided that Montgomery County Public Schools had not violated parents’ rights to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment.
A preliminary injunction would have allowed those parents to quickly decide whether their children should read particular LGBTQ children’s books in English lessons if those works conflict with their religious beliefs.
Every student who returns to school on Monday will engage in lessons according to the curriculum without the injunction that was rejected by a US District Court judge on Thursday afternoon.
Parents from a range of religious backgrounds, including atheism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Ethiopian Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, Protestantism, and Roman Catholicism, came together in response to the school district’s rejection to offer an opt-out privilege. Through the neighborhood group Kids First, Becket claims to represent hundreds of parents.
On May 23, the parents filed a lawsuit against the school board, requesting the right to allow their children to refuse to read LGBTQ children’s books.
Boardman ruled that since the policy does not prohibit parents from teaching their children about these topics after school, the Montgomery County school board’s decision to not allow children to opt out of such instruction with the use of LGBTQ children’s books did not violate the right to educate their children in accordance with their spiritual obligations.
Every court that has considered the issue, according to Boardman, has come to the conclusion that the mere exposure of kids or parents to ideas that are incompatible with their religious convictions in public schools does not burden their expression of such views.
The judge disregarded critics’ worries that transgender ideology, by championing people who believe they were born in the wrong body, encourages children to adopt a gender identity that is the opposite of their biological sex and that calls for the use of experimental medical procedures.
The lawsuit is not over just because the injunction was rejected. In order to reach a final conclusion, the court must still hear the entire case.
On Thursday afternoon, there will be a rally for parents who support allowing their children to skip class with the curriculum that uses LGBTQ children’s books, and security will be in place in front of the MCPS building.
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