U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito (from Creative Commons)
In a case involving a Muslim family in Maryland, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the 6-3 majority that having LGBTQ books in schools places an additional burden on families that oppose LGBTQ people.
In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court ruled that the “parents in this case are likely to succeed in their challenge to the school board’s policies foreclosing the opt-out option,” explained SCOTUS blog’s Amy Howe.
“We have long recognized,” Alito writes, “the rights of parents to direct ‘the religious upbringing’ of their children. And we have held that those rights are violated by government policies that substantially interfere with the religious development of children.”
The School Board’s “introduction of the LGBTQ-themed books and the failure to provide notice and opt-out options for parents meets that test: it does interfere with the children’s religious development and imposes a burden on religious exercise,” wrote Howe in her explainer.
The key piece of the ruling gives the option for anyone to object to any book in schools based on religious concerns.
The Satanic Temple and Church of Satan, for example, could potentially have the Bible banned from schools.
