Supreme Court says parents can opt kids out of school district’s LGBT curriculum
June 28, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of parents who wish to opt their children out of a Maryland school district’s LGBT-themed curriculum materials over religious objections.
The Christian Post reports that the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that Montgomery County Public Schools cannot force children to be exposed to LGBT-themed books in the case of Mahmoud, Tamer, et al. v. Taylor, Thomas W., et al.
The case arose after a group of parents sued the school district in 2023 over its refusal to grant opt-outs for lessons that contained LGBT materials.
Justice Samuel Alito authored the majority opinion, saying, “A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill.”
Alito, who was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas in the opinion, added, “And a government cannot condition the benefit of free public education on parents’ acceptance of such instruction. Based on these principles, we conclude that the parents are likely to succeed in their challenge to the Board’s policies.”
The parents were granted a preliminary injunction, on religious grounds, against the school district’s inclusion of LGBT-themed books in the curriculum.
Alito affirmed the right of parents to direct their child’s upbringing, writing, “The practice of educating one’s children in one’s religious beliefs, like all religious acts and practices, receives a generous measure of protection from our Constitution. And this is not merely a right to teach religion in the confines of one’s own home. Rather, it extends to the choices that parents wish to make for their children outside the home.”
According to the Christian Post, Justice Sonia Sotomayor was joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan in the dissenting opinion, expressing concern that the majority opinion “invents a constitutional right to avoid exposure to ‘subtle’ themes’ contrary to the religious principles’ that parents wish to instill in their children.”
Sotomayor continued, “Requiring schools to provide advance notice and the chance to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs will impose impossible administrative burdens on schools. The harm will not be borne by educators alone: Children will suffer too.”
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