US supreme court rules parents can opt children out of classes with LGBTQ book readings

The United States’ supreme court has ruled that schools must now provide parents with an “opt-out” option, allowing them to excuse their children from class involving teaching materials that feature LGBTQ characters.

The vote, on Friday, was split 6-3 in a case involving three categories of parents seeking to opt their elementary school children out of classes because of books containing LGBTQ characters.

At the centre of the case was the Montgomery county board of education which administers schools in some of Washington DC’s most affluent suburbs.

The parents, comprising Muslims, Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, argued that without an opt-out provision, their First Amendment religious freedoms were violated.

The case was filed after the school withdrew the opt-out notice policy owing to reports of high absenteeism.

Samuel Alito, the justice who wrote the majority opinion, agreed that the school’s decision to end the opt-out policy “substantially interferes with the religious development of petitioners’ children”.

“The books are unmistakably normative,” he wrote.

“They are designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.”

The court’s conservative majority said the parents hold “sincere views on sexuality and gender which they wish to pass on to their children”.

Earlier, the school board argued that the lessons were used only as “exposure to objectionable ideas”, but their arguments were dismissed.

Some of the books in question include “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding”, which celebrates a relationship between two men; “Born Ready”, which highlights a transgender boy’s journey; and several other stories on LGBTQ issues.

Some science books also had LGBTQ characters to teach Darwin’s theory of evolution.