The Family Foundation Joins Legal Brief Asking the U.S. Supreme Court to Protect the Right of Parents to Opt-Out of LGBT Curriculum

LEXINGTON, KY – The Family Foundation recently joined an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case Mahmoud v. Taylor. The brief was sponsored by the Maryland Family Policy Institute and joined by several of our FPC allies from around the country.

The issue the Court is considering in this case if whether parents have the right to know when an LGBT curriculum is used in their child’s class and whether parents have the right to opt out of an LGBT curriculum without their child being punished. Specifically, the Montgomery County, Maryland School Board adopted a curriculum that incorporated LGBT readings into elementary school classrooms.

Initially, the policy allowed parental opt-outs based on religious objections; however, the school board changed that policy in 2023, requiring all students to participate in the LGBT curriculum. In response to this change in policy, a group of parents from a variety of faiths—Christians, Jews, and Muslims—filed a lawsuit arguing that forcing their children to receive instruction on LGBT topics violates their religious freedom as protected by the First Amendment.

We agree with the plaintiffs and strongly urge the Court to find in their favor. Our brief points out that “Christians closely link visible traits and experiences of the human body, including sexual traits and experiences, to divine realities. To deny these teachings – and to state instead that human sexual identities are self-constructed, and that same-sex relations are attractive – is therefore to strike at the architecture of Christianity.”

The brief also argues, “Given religious convictions about how human beings’ experience of their bodily selves as male or female, and their experiences of sexual pleasure and attraction, are the source of irreplaceable understandings of God’s identity and love for us, and our love for him and one another, the County’s materials teaching otherwise plainly undermine parents’ authority over their children’s religious education.” Thus, the Montgomery County, Maryland School Board violated the Constitutional rights of parents by attempting to force an LGBT curriculum on their kids without notice to the parents and an opportunity to opt-out.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor in April. We will be following this case closely and will keep our supporters informed of any updates along the way. You can read the brief here.