Religious freedom does not protect from gender ideology in schools, court rules

A federal court last week rejected an appeal from parents of all three major faiths to opt out of gender ideology in school.

Mandatory LGBT Reading

As of the 2023-2034 school year, all children who attend publicly funded schools in Montgomery County, Maryland must read LGBT materials that are listed as assigned reading. These include books such as “Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope,” which is about a biological boy who says he is a girl. Small children will also be exposed to “Pride Puppy,” an alphabet book about a little boy who loses his puppy at a Pride parade.

The books were approved by the Montgomery County Board of Education in 2022. One year later they were made mandatory.

A First Amendment challenge

A group of six Christian, Jewish, and Muslim parents sued the Montgomery County Board of Education over the new mandate. The parents argued that a compulsory curriculum which glorifies homosexuality violates their First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The parents were joined by the parental rights group Kids First.

A lower court rejected the parents’ bid, prompting an appeal. Last Wednesday, a 2-1 majority on the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s ruling. Bush appointee Judge G. Steven Agee and Obama appointee Judge DeAndrea Benjamin both rejected the parents’ complaint.

“At present, however, no evidence in the record connects the requisite dots between the Parents’ children’s ages or mental capacity and their unknown exposure to the Storybooks to conclude that the Parents have already shown that a cognizable burden exists,” Agee wrote.

The dissenting opinion was given by Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr., a Trump appointee. Quattlebaum agreed with the parents’ right to choose their children’s religious upbringing is being violated by the LGBT mandate.

Attorney Eric Baxter represented the parents. “The court just told thousands of Maryland parents they have no say in what their children are taught in public schools,” he told NBC News.

Some states strike back

Last year, 17 states passed laws to protect children from gender ideology. Most of these laws were aimed at barring boys from girls’ sports. A handful, however, also passed laws prohibiting schools from teaching LGBT ideology in certain grades. Only Florida and Kentucky have banned instruction on LGBT topics in all primary school grades, from K-8.

While school boards grow bolder

School boards in other states, however, are being clear about their intentions with LGBT curricula.

In December, Virginia’s Fairfax County School Board Chairman Karl Frisch took his oath of office by placing his hand on a stack of sexually explicit LGBT books. They included “Lawn Boy,” “Gender Queer,” “Flamer,” “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

Those books, which are currently available to underage students in Fairfax County and other U.S. public schools, depict graphic homosexual activity. Some of the books feature sexual relationships between adults and children. “Lawn Boy,” for example, reportedly depicts a fourth-grader performing oral sex on an adult man.

Frisch, who describes himself as a “public policy advocate” and “he/him,” has few roots in Virginia, according to the Daily Wire. An atheist Democrat campaign consultant from California, Frisch secured his first term on the Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) in 2019 after campaigning on gender ideology.

Because he has no children, Frisch’s heavy interest in schools raises concerns that his purpose is to sexualize children and indoctrinate them with gender ideology.

On his campaign website, Frisch boasts he is “the first LGBTQ+ person elected to local office in Virginia’s largest county and one of only four openly LGBTQ+ school board members in the Commonwealth out of roughly 800 members.” 

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, a former Republican candidate for the Fairfax County School Board, says Frisch and his colleagues have already mandated that preferred pronouns be used.

“This most recent circus act regarding his oath wasn’t particularly surprising,” wrote Lundquist-Arora in the Washington Examiner. “Frisch approaches his commitment to pushing the LGBT agenda into Fairfax County’s public schools with religious fervor.”