A lawsuit over the Montgomery County Public Schools’ refusal to allow parents to opt their children out of classes with LGBTQ lessons and books will get an expedited appeals hearing, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday.

Attorney Eric Baxter of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm involved in the appeal, reported the expedited status in a post on X. A Becket spokesman said word of the change came via email without a formal ruling by the appeals panel.

Mr. Baxter’s clients — Muslim, Christian and Jewish parents in the Montgomery County school district — want both advanced notice of the books and lesson and the right to take their children out of such instructional periods.

A Becket district court brief said those practices had been followed in the 2022-2023 school year, only to be rescinded in March for the 2023-2024 term, which began Aug. 28. 

District Judge Deborah L. Boardman, a 2021 Biden appointee, ruled Aug. 24 against the parents, saying the MCPS action did not violate religious free exercise rights and that school children “are not being directly or indirectly coerced into activity that violates their religious beliefs.”

An appeal to the Fourth Circuit was filed days later.

An MCPS spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Monday’s development.

Via email, Mr. Baxter lauded the accelerated schedule.

“By shortening the litigation timeline, the Fourth Circuit has demonstrated the importance of the issues at stake,” he said. “All children deserve their parents’ guidance on how they are introduced to complex issues around gender identity, gender transition, and human sexuality. We are hopeful the Fourth Circuit will soon reinstate the opt-outs already required by Maryland law and the School Board’s own policies.”

The MCPS policy change angered religious parents across ideological lines, with various Christian communities and Muslim parents among those demonstrating against the switch and asking for a reinstatement.

MCPS claimed in court filings that accommodating opt-out requests would cause “significant disruptions to the classroom environment.”

However, Hisham M. Garti, outreach director of the Montgomery County Muslim Council, later said the system’s chief academic officer, Peggy A. Pugh, did not raise that issue in a meeting to discuss the matter.

In his post on X, Mr. Baxter said Becket would file its Fourth Circuit brief on October 10.

• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.