Maryland Court Rules Parents Have No Say in Child’s Education

Tierin-Rose Mandelburg | August 25, 2023
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Earlier this month, a group of Maryland parents gathered at the state district court to fight for parental rights and protect their children from indoctrinating content in schools. On August 24, the court ruled that parents would NOT be able to opt their children out of that sort of content. 

This is all about control. 

In an exclusive interview with Becket Fund for Religious Liberty's senior counsel, William Haun, the Media Research Center was told about some of the inappropriate content throughout the “children's” stories that parents were fighting for the right to opt-out of. Haun noted that stories mentioned that gender wasn’t such a big deal, that cisgender and transgender hair has differences and even a book that required pre-kindergartners to identify celebrated sex workers at a pride parade. 

As it is their right to have control over what garbage can and cannot enter their kids minds, parents, with the help of Becket, filed a lawsuit on May 23 in a case called Mahmoud v. McKnight.

“Despite faith differences, these parents are united in their view that the LGBTQ storybooks are age-inappropriate, spiritually and emotionally damaging for kids and inconsistent with their religious beliefs,” a press release from Becket indicated on Thursday.

Now, after the August 9 argument before the court, said court has decided it will NOT allow parents that First Amendment right to direct their children’s religious upbringing or protection against arbitrary power. 

Related: Maryland School District Restricts Parents Direction Over Children’s Religion, Parents Sue

Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, explained how the court did not decide in favor of the parents on his Twitter account.

“No fairy tale ending (yet) for Maryland parents,” he wrote.

“Once upon a time, the Montgomery County School Board provided parental notice and opt-outs for books that advocate pride parades, gender transitioning, and pronoun preference for kids as young as pre-Kindergarten,” he wrote in a subsequent tweet.

This is a major blow in the fight for parental choice. Parents do plan to appeal the decision, and it is on fast track to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. But for now, their kids will be indoctrinated and corrupted by the woke content in schools. As a final note, here’s what Baxter concluded his Twitter response with

The School Board should let kids be kids and let parents parent. 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.

 

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