The Supreme Court appeared inclined Tuesday to side with a group of parents objecting to their school district including books with LGBTQ themes in its elementary school curriculum.
Across more than two hours of arguments, a majority of the justices sympathized with the Montgomery County, Md., parents’ claims that the lack of an opt-out option substantially burdens their First Amendment rights to freely exercise their religion.
“What is the big deal about allowing them to opt out of this?” conservative Justice Samuel Alito asked.
Montgomery County, which serves more than 160,000 students in the Maryland suburbs of the nation’s capital and is one of the country’s most diverse school districts, began introducing LGBTQ-inclusive books in its elementary school language arts curriculum at the start of the 2022-23 school year.
The books include titles like “Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope,” which is centered on the author’s transgender son, and “Love, Violet,” which tells the story of two young girls in a same-sex romance.
