A coalition of Muslim and Christian parents vowed to appeal a Thursday court ruling that denied their request for the restoration of a parental opt-out option for LGBT storybooks in a Maryland school district.
The group of parents had sued Montgomery County Public Schools earlier this year after the school district stopped notifying parents of a series of LGBT-themed storybooks in classroom instruction and forbade parents from opting out of it, a change from previous district policy. The parents alleged that the lack of an opt-out option forced them to violate their religious beliefs by allowing their children to be exposed to material that did not conform to their religious practices.
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On Thursday, Judge Deborah Boardman of the U.S. District Court of Maryland, a Biden appointee, ruled that the school had not violated the rights of the parents by removing the ability to opt out, adding that the parents had failed to prove the school district was coercing their children into adopting pro-LGBT ideas.
"The plaintiffs have not shown that the no-opt-out policy likely will result in the indoctrination of their children," Boardman wrote.
In a footnote, Boardman noted that one of the plaintiffs has a child with a learning disability and is incapable of differentiating between the instruction of the teacher and any rebuttal attempt by the parents. Nevertheless, the judge ruled this did not violate the family's religious exercise rights.
"The Morrisons, too, do not face any coercion to violate their sacred duty to raise their child in their faith," Boardman wrote. "Morrison states they cannot contextualize contrary ideas for their disabled daughter because her disability prevents her from understanding the difference between what her parents say and what her teachers say. But the no-opt-out policy does not prevent the Morrisons from taking the action required by their religion — trying to teach their daughter their beliefs."
The coalition is represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which vowed to appeal the ruling in a statement.
"The School Board’s decision to cut parents out of these discussions flies in the face of parental freedom, childhood innocence, and basic human decency," Eric Baxter, Becket Fund vice president and senior counsel, said in a statement. "The court’s decision is an assault on children’s right to be guided by their parents on complex and sensitive issues regarding human sexuality. The School Board should let kids be kids and let parents decide how and when to best educate their own children consistent with their religious beliefs.”
While not a party of the case, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement vowing to support continued efforts to restore the parental opt-out, saying, "The campaign to protect the rights of parents and children in Montgomery County Public Schools is just beginning."
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"As the school year begins, we remain committed to vocally advocating for families who simply want their children to attend English class without being forced to discuss and affirm sensitive concepts that would normally arise in sex education courses," the organization said. "Until the opt-out is restored, impacted families plan to pursue every available legal means to protect their rights, including but not limited to new targeted legal action, continued interfaith protests, the release of additional internal MCPS documents, and respectful acts of peaceful civil disobedience."
The Washington Examiner reached out to Montgomery County Public Schools for comment.