Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Friday criticized the Supreme Court ruling that sided with parents who seek to opt out their children from reading LGBTQ books in school, calling its implications “breathtaking.”
“If you can opt out of mandatory classroom readings because it offends your religious objections, you can do it because it offends your philosophical beliefs, your political beliefs, your moral beliefs, or what have you, and the court basically says, ‘We’ll deal with all that down the road,'” Raskin told CNN’s Jim Sciutto in an interview Friday afternoon.
The ruling, which stemmed from a case of Muslim, Roman Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox parents in Maryland suing over a school district’s incorporation of book with LGBTQ characters in curriculum, was decided in a 6-3 vote along ideological lines.
“You’re going to have a lot more cases where people are saying ‘Our family doesn’t believe in evolution. So we don’t want our kid to be in class when evolution is taught,'” Raskin said about the decision, which impacts his constituents.
The Montgomery County, Md., school district originally provided an opt-out option for families but rescinded it after several parents wanted to opt out for religious reasons. Parents argued up to the Supreme Court that the lack of drop out options infringed on their constitutional right of religious liberty.
“Although not surprised, we are disappointed in today’s ruling. This decision complicates our work creating a welcoming, inclusive, and equitable school system. It also sends a chilling message to many valued members of our diverse community,” wrote the Montgomery County Board of Education and Montgomery County Public Schools in a joint statement.
In another statement Friday, the Maryland Democrat railed against the decision, saying it “opens a gigantic Pandora’s box.”
“At a time when public schools are under severe attack by right-wing politicians, this decision just makes running a school and teaching in a classroom that much more difficult,” he added, alluding to the Trump administration’s upheaval of the Department of Education.
Updated at 9:41 p.m. EDT