The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Friday in Mahmoud v. Taylor in favor of a diverse group of Maryland parents who challenged a public school district’s refusal to opt their children out of classroom activities that try to change the children’s religious beliefs about sexuality and gender. ADF attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Wisconsin mother Tammy Fournier, whose daughter’s former school district insisted on treating the girl as a boy despite the mother’s express instructions not to do so:
“The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision is a monumental victory for parents and their fundamental right to make decisions consistent with their religious beliefs about the upbringing and education of their children. Government officials can’t force parents to give up that right or violate their religious beliefs in exchange for a public education. In line with American history, tradition, and judicial precedent, the court affirmed that school officials cannot act like their job is to replace parents and their beliefs. Our Constitution forbids schools from indoctrinating children with uniform views on sexuality and gender—hotly debated topics—in conflict with their families’ religious beliefs. We applaud the court’s protection of parents’ right to choose what’s best for their children’s education. We also congratulate our friends at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty for their hard-fought win in this important case.”
In its opinion granting the parents their requested injunction, the court made clear that “the Board’s introduction of the ‘LGBTQ+-inclusive’ storybooks – combined with its decision to withhold notice to parents and to forbid opt outs – substantially interferes with the religious development of their children.”
“A classroom environment that is welcoming to all students,” the court noted, “is something to be commended, but such an environment cannot be achieved through hostility toward the religious beliefs of students and their parents.” The court declared that it “is both insulting and legally unsound to tell parents that they must abstain from public education in order to raise their children in their religious faiths, when alternatives can be prohibitively expensive and they already contribute to financing the public schools.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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