SHOCKING: Federal court takes sledgehammer to parental rights

A federal court in Maryland declared this week that parents do not have “a fundamental right” to opt their kids out of radical gender education.

Reportedly, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) previously “provided parental notice and opt-outs for books that advocate pride parades, gender transitioning, and pronoun preference for kids as young as pre-Kindergarten.” However, after introducing a radical new LGBTQ+ curriculum last year, the district eventually revoked parents’ ability to remove their children from the classroom, despite the fact that Maryland law requires parental notification for family life and human sexuality courses.

Parents teamed up with Becket Law, the religious liberty law firm, to challenge the school’s policy, requesting, at a minimum, a preliminary injunction before school starts again next week. Thursday, a Biden-appointed judge denied the request and ruled that “opting out of a public-school curriculum that conflicts with [parents’] religious views is not a fundamental right."

“The School Board should let kids be kids and let parents parent” blazoned Eric Baxter, Becket senior counsel. “Children are entitled to enjoy a period of innocence and be guided by their own parents on how and when to approach the complex and sensitive issues being pushed by the School Board.”

In a detailed report, Becket Law breaks down the history of its federal lawsuit against MCPS. Becket notes that last fall, the Montgomery Board of Education added “over 20 new ‘inclusivity’ books for its pre-K through eighth grade classrooms. But rather than focusing on basic civility and kindness, these books champion pride parades, gender transitioning, and pronoun preferences for children…. The curriculum suppresses free speech and independent thinking by having teachers tell students they are ‘hurtful’ if they question these controversial ideologies.”

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Predictably, concerned parents with religious convictions voiced their opposition to the new curriculum, which they said conflicted with core teachings of their individual faiths. Becket’s court case lays out numerous parental objections to LGBTQ+ education, including the belief “that mankind was divinely created as male and female and that sex and sexuality are sacred gifts from God to be expressed through the forming of a spiritual, marital bond that ‘entails sexually distinct but mutual duties and affections.’”

Initially, MCPS assuaged parents’ fears, assuring them that they would be notified before the books in question were read in school and that the district would continue to respect opt-out requests. Then, in March of this year, the school board backpedaled, denying the parents of Montgomery County’s more than 70,000 elementary students the right to pull them out of the classroom. At least one board member blasted the parents’ diverse faiths—everyone from Protestants to Catholics to Muslims opposed the new curriculum—by equating “family values” and “core beliefs” to “just telling [your] kid, ‘Here’s another reason to hate another person.’”

Not only is this an egregious attack on parental rights, but, for good measure, it also includes a stinging insult by targeting parents’ religious beliefs. By trapping elementary students in classrooms that spew anti-religious, anti-science propaganda, this federal judge has declared open war on the family.

Parents must stand up now—before it is too late. If the federal government is willing to associate “family values” with hate speech, there’s no telling how far it will go to snuff out parental rights and religious faith. This same line of thinking could easily be used to crack down on homeschooling or religious education, increasingly pushing “bigoted,” “hateful,” “terrorist” parents out of the children’s lives. Remember, this is the same federal government that treated parents at school board meetings like terrorists.

Here at Convention of States, we believe decisions should be made as close to home as possible. We also believe that parents are the single most important line of defense against the LGBT agenda. If a federal judge thinks she can unilaterally dismiss parents’ God-given right to raise their kids, that’s all the proof we need that the feds are way outside their lane. 

Join us today as we counter the radical federal agenda with an Article V convention, ensure the safety of our children, and secure parental rights for generations to come. Sign the Convention of States petition to get involved today.