Federal court says parents have no right to opt kids out of LGBT curriculum

The court concluded the plaintiffs’ right to direct their children’s upbringing by opting out of a public-school curriculum is not a fundamental right.

By Charles Hilu, Washington Free Beacon

A federal court ruled Thursday that parents who sued a Maryland school district have no right to opt their children out of classes teaching LGBT curriculum.

The parents, who sued Montgomery County Public Schools, sought for the school district to reinstate a policy that allowed them to withdraw their children from discussions of books featuring LGBT characters. The district in January put in place the policy but reversed course in March.

“The Court concludes the plaintiffs’ asserted due process right to direct their children’s upbringing by opting out of a public-school curriculum that conflicts with their religious views is not a fundamental right,” ruled Judge Deborah L. Boardman, a Biden appointee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Democrats at the federal and state level have pushed an LGBT agenda in schools since President Joe Biden took office.

In July 2022, Biden’s Department of Education proposed changes to the interpretation of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act that would compel schools to give transgender students the ability to use bathrooms and locker rooms that conform with their gender identity, rather than their biological sex.

Multiple blue states have sued school districts that require teachers to notify parents of changes in their children’s gender identity or sexual orientation. New Jersey attorney general Matthew Platkin sued three school districts in the state that voted to enact those rules. Phil Murphy, the state’s Democratic governor, called taking away such policies “the American way.”