A federal judge in Maryland has ruled parents don’t have the option to remove their children from elementary schools’ LGBT+ curriculum.
A group of Muslim parents filed a lawsuit to reinstate a MCPS policy that would allow them to opt their children out of reading LGBT+ books, Fox News reports.
The school district initially alerted parents when LGBT+ books would be read in class and permitted parents to opt their kids out of the LGBT+ curriculum.
But in March, the district changed its policy and announced that parents would no longer have that right, according to Fox News.
Parents protested outside the MCPS Board of Education on July 20 in Montgomery County.
They argued the LGBT+ content was a form of “indoctrination” that violated their religious beliefs.
But Judge Deborah L. Boardman, a Biden appointee, ruled that parents don’t have the “fundamental right” to opt their children out of reading books with LGBT+ characters.
The judge said parents don’t have the right to “direct their children’s upbringing by opting out of a public-school curriculum that conflicts with their religious views”.
Judge Boardman also refused to grant an “injunction that requires the Board to provide advance notice and opt-outs from instruction involving the storybooks and family life and human sexuality.”
Boardman said the parents are not likely to succeed in an appeal.
“The plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction pending appeal is denied,” she stated.
