The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a legal challenge over whether parents can opt their children out of LGBTQ story time in public elementary schools.

The dispute arose when the Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland decided not to allow elementary-age kids to opt out of reading storybooks on gender transitioning and LGBTQ issues.

The school board in fall 2022 rolled out the school curriculum that celebrates pronouns, pride parades and gender transitioning, including the “inclusivity” reading program for students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

At the time, parents were given notice and told they could opt out their children.

But in 2023, the school system reversed its policy and said it would no longer notify parents in advance about readings from the disputed texts.

The group of parents from different faiths — Muslim, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish — argued that the school board was infringing on their free exercise of religion since there is no option to opt their child out of story time.

The lower courts rejected the parents’ request for an injunction, prompting their appeal.

One of the books to which the parents objected, “Pride Puppy,” tells 3- and 4-year-old students to find images from a vocabulary list including “’intersex flag,’ ’drag queen,’ ’underwear,’ ’leather,’ and the name of a “celebrated LGBTQ activist and sex worker.”

Another volume, “Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope,” promoted what attorneys representing the parents said was a “child-knows-best” view of gender transitioning. They said teachers were “instructed to say doctors only ’guess’ when identifying a newborn [child’s]” gender.

It took at least four justices to vote in favor of hearing the dispute for the case to be granted.

Oral arguments are expected to take place in the spring, with a decision issued by the end of June.

• Former Washington Times reporter Mark A. Kellner contributed to this report.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.