In a stunning rebuke of progressive overreach, the Supreme Court has sided with parents against Maryland’s largest school district. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) tried to force LGBT-themed books into classrooms while stripping parents of their opt-out rights, as The Blaze reports. The 6-3 ruling is a clarion call: parents, not bureaucrats, steer their kids’ upbringing.
In late 2022, MCPS approved over 20 LGBT-themed works, such as Pride Puppy and Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope, for its English curriculum, initially allowing parental opt-outs before reversing course and claiming state law didn’t apply. Christian and Muslim parents, backed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, sued, arguing the policy trampled their First Amendment religious freedoms. The Supreme Court’s Friday decision grants a preliminary injunction, restoring opt-outs while the lawsuit unfolds.
MCPS’s initial policy let parents pull their kids from lessons with these books and required notice when they were used. That small nod to parental authority didn’t last -- district officials soon declared opt-outs irrelevant since the materials were tucked into English classes, not health. It’s a classic bait-and-switch, cloaking ideology in curriculum to dodge accountability.
Represented by Becket, the parents didn’t demand book bans but fought for control over their children’s exposure to content clashing with their faith. “This is a historic victory for parental rights,” said Eric Baxter, Becket’s vice president. His words resonate, but progressives will likely cry censorship while ignoring the real issue: parental choice.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, reversed a lower court’s decision, finding MCPS’s policies likely violate religious exercise. Justice Samuel Alito, penning the majority opinion, didn’t mince words, noting the books’ “normative” push for values like same-sex marriage acceptance. That’s not education -- it’s indoctrination with a rainbow sticker.
Alito’s opinion leaned on the 1972 Wisconsin v. Yoder case, likening MCPS’s mandates to compulsory education that clashed with religious beliefs. “These books carry a very real threat of undermining” parental religious teachings, he wrote. It’s a legal gut-punch to school boards drunk on their power.
MCPS’s decision to withhold notice and ban opt-outs was a deliberate jab at religious families. Alito called it a “substantial interference” with parents’ rights to guide their kids’ moral development. When schools play gatekeeper, they’re not just teaching -- they’re preaching.
The books, Alito argued, impose values “hostile” to the parents’ beliefs, echoing Yoder’s warning against state overreach. “Like the compulsory high school education considered in Yoder,” he wrote, these materials force kids into ideological crossfire. It’s a stark reminder: public schools aren’t private fiefdoms for social engineers.
A 2024 Heart+Mind Strategies poll showed 69% of Americans view parents as their kids’ primary educators, with 77% backing opt-out rights for content clashing with religious or age-appropriate standards. The public gets it -- why doesn’t MCPS? Arrogance, perhaps, or just blind faith in the progressive playbook.
Corey DeAngelis, a noted parental rights advocate, called the ruling a “landmark victory” that could “embolden parents” nationwide. He’s right -- school districts now face a reckoning. Ignore parents, and you’ll answer to the courts.
DeAngelis added that a win like this “puts school districts on notice” that kids aren’t government property. His point cuts deep: schools exist to serve families, not the other way around. Yet, too many districts act like they own the next generation.
Alvin Lui of Courage Is a Habit noted that schools have spent decades “cutting parents out” of education. “Parents have had enough,” he said. That’s not just a soundbite -- it’s a movement, and MCPS just became its cautionary tale.
PEN America, in an amicus brief, whined that siding with parents could tank LGBT-themed book sales and make teachers avoid such content. Cry me a river -- since when is the First Amendment a sales guarantee? Their argument exposes the real agenda: profit and ideology over principle.
Tiffany Justice of Moms for Liberty hailed the “courageous parents” like Tamer Mahmoud and Rosalind Hanson who led the charge. “This decision protects family values,” she said, warning schools to respect parents or “face the consequences.” Her fire is justified -- parents aren’t pawns in a culture war.
The ruling doesn’t ban books; it restores parental choice while the lawsuit plays out. Progressives will spin this as bigotry, but it’s about freedom -- freedom to raise your kids without a school board’s ideological leash. MCPS overplayed its hand, and the Supreme Court called its bluff.
