USA court allows parents to opt children out from LGBT lessons

The Montgomery County School Board introduced storybooks on LGBTQ topics in 2022. Photo: AP

On June 27, 2025, the US Supreme Court ruled that public schools in the state of Maryland must allow parents to withdraw their children from classes that include storybooks featuring LGBTQ themes if it contradicts their religious beliefs, reports The Financial Express.

The case involved an appeal by a group of Muslim, Catholic, and Ukrainian Orthodox parents against the policy of Montgomery County schools, which prohibited opt-outs from English language-arts lessons that included LGBTQ-inclusive books. The parents argued that the policy infringed on their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion.

Justice Samuel Alito, who expressed the opinion of the majority of judges making the decision, stated that the parents demonstrated the need for a preliminary injunction. “A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses a very real threat of undermining the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill,” he wrote.

This decision follows a series of recent Supreme Court rulings that prioritized religious freedom, including a 2023 case allowing some businesses to refuse service for same-sex weddings based on freedom of speech protection.

As reported by the UOJ, in Germany, there are demands to introduce gender ideology in kindergartens.

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