Supreme Court to weigh clash over parental opt-outs for storybooks on gender identity and sexuality

Washington — The Supreme Court on Tuesday is set to consider Maryland parents' challenge to their local school board's policy that denies them the ability to opt their elementary school-age children out of instruction featuring storybooks that address gender identity and sexual orientation.

At issue in the court fight between a group of families and the Montgomery County Board of Education is whether public schools unconstitutionally infringe parents' First Amendment right to exercise their religion freely when they require children to participate in instruction on gender and sexuality that violate the families' religious beliefs.

"What's at stake is the long-recognized parental right in our law and traditions for parents to direct the religious education and upbringing of their children," said Michael O'Brien, a lawyer with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. "The government cannot substantially interfere with that by compelling instruction on sensitive sexuality and gender-identity issues that strike at the heart of parental decision-making authority on matters of core religious importance."