It’s unclear when the U.S Supreme Court will make a decision in a case brought against Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) by parents who believe their religious freedoms are being violated by a district policy regarding LGBTQ+ books. But outside the court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, supporters of the plaintiffs were hopeful that the questions posed by the justices during oral arguments presented that morning indicated the court was on their side.
Following the conclusion of the more than two hours of oral arguments, the plaintiffs and their lawyers addressed the media on the courthouse steps. Eric Baxter, senior counsel for Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, said he was “optimistic” the court will be “sympathetic” to the plaintiffs.
“We’re super happy today with the way things went in the court,” Baxter said. “We think the court recognized that the schoolbooks are an issue here themselves, even without getting into the separate instruction that was required of the teachers.”
The case before the court was brought by a group of parents who unsuccessfully sued MCPS for not having a policy to notify families when LGBTQ+ storybooks are used in elementary school classrooms and not allowing families to opt out of those lessons.
The court announced in January that it would hear the case, which The Washington Post first reported. The parents had asked the Supreme Court to take on the case in September, after a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s denial of a preliminary injunction in May 2024. Following Tuesday’s arguments, the court is not likely to release a decision until the summer.
The group of parents filed a federal lawsuit in May 2023, arguing against the county school board’s decision to incorporate LGBTQ+ inclusive storybooks into the English language arts curriculum in elementary schools and its policy to not allow parents to opt out their children from instruction. The policy was first articulated by the school board in March 2023 after the district added six LGBTQ+ inclusive books to its supplemental curriculum for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. MCPS revised the opt-out policy at that time, which stated that teachers would not notify or send a letter home to families when inclusive books are read in the classroom.
Melissa Persak, a Catholic mother of two MCPS students and one of the plaintiffs named in the suit, told the press that MCPS put her family into a “difficult and unjust” situation by eliminating the opt-out policy.
“No parent should have to choose between preserving their religious beliefs and sending their children to public school today,” Persak said. “Today, we ask the justices to uphold our freedom to raise our children according to our faith and values, free from government interference.”
Svitlana Roman, an Orthodox Christian mother of an MCPS student and another plaintiff, said she and her husband chose to remove their son from his school because of the potential exposure to books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes.
“As Christians, we teach our son that gender is a gift from God and a natural, unchanging part of who we are. We cannot, in good conscience, expose our child to materials that contradict these fundamental beliefs,” Roman said. “This forced us to make a decision to take our son out of the public schools, which has come at a great personal and financial cost.”
In a statement to Bethesda Today following Tuesday’s arguments, MCPS spokesperson Liliana López said the district’s policy is focused on providing an “appropriate classroom environment for all of our students. We believe a curriculum that fosters respect for people of different backgrounds does not burden the free exercise of religion.”
“Based on established law, as discussed in our brief and by our counsel at today’s argument, we believe the Supreme Court can and should affirm the lower courts’ rulings,” López said. “Regardless of the outcome, we are grateful for the opportunity to have our case heard by the highest court in the land.”
‘Inclusive education’ versus ‘parental choice’
While MCPS leaders and attorneys did not address the public following the hearing, they were supported by dozens of LGBTQ+ community members and allies participating in a rally in front of the courthouse steps.
The rally, led by the MoCo Pride Center in partnership with several local and national organizations, was held for the duration of the arguments and included remarks from local elected officials and LGBTQ+ community leaders as well as drag and spoken-word poetry performances. Rally leaders played pop music on loudspeakers and used bubble machines.
Megan Stallwell, a sophomore at Poolesville High School who attended the rally in support of MCPS, said she is both a practicing Catholic and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. She said she was frustrated by the arguments being made by the plaintiffs on the basis of religious freedom.
“Every child deserves a thorough and unbiased education, especially those who will not receive it at home,” Stallwell said. “[The plaintiffs] use religion as an excuse for excluding and ostracizing other human beings, and the fact that they even have a chance to write their hatred into law is sickening.”
Speakers at the rally in support of the school system focused many of their remarks on the importance of inclusive education and exposing students to a variety of viewpoints and experiences.
“Inclusive education does not brainwash children. It doesn’t teach them what to think – it teaches them how to think,” said Justin Tom, a junior at Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville “Inclusive education gives them the tools to think critically, compassionately and completely. It teaches them that the world is wide and messy and beautiful and worth understanding.”
Just steps away, a rally that was more solemn in tone took place as supporters of the plaintiffs carried signs bearing messages such as “I don’t co-parent with the government” and “end woke indoctrination.”
Grace Morrison, an MCPS parent of a 12-year-old child with Down syndrome, said inclusion of LGBTQ+ books in class “threatens” her daughter’s well-being.
“Montgomery County officials have created yet another obstacle for her by mandating story books and instruction that celebrate inappropriate gender ideology,” Morrison said. “Our own public schools are demanding more than just our tax dollars for an education. They are demanding a price that includes our daughter’s well-being and our religious freedom.”
For the most part, participants in the two contrasting rallies didn’t interact or antagonize each other. But Wael Elkoshairi, a leader of the local Family Rights for Religious Freedom advocacy organization and an MCPS parent leading the rally for the plaintiffs, took exception to the MoCo Pride Center rally playing music outside the courthouse.
“This is just a taste of the disrespect we’ve experienced since we started challenging [MCPS],” he said.
Both rallies drew people from outside Montgomery County. Beza Demena, a Virginia resident and public school teacher, said she came to support other Christians from the Ethiopian community who object to LGBTQ+ content in schools and support an opt-out policy.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with banning books. It’s literally giving the parents … that option to say, ‘Hey, this book does not reflect my values. Give me a heads up and I’ll pull my kid out,’” Demena said. “I pray the hearing’s outcome is good.”
The Rev. Sara Nave-Fisher, senior minister at University Christian Church in Hyattsville, told Bethesda Today she came to the MoCo Pride Center rally to support MCPS because as a faith leader, she disagreed with religion being used to justify the opt-out argument.
“We can’t opt out of people’s existence,” Nave-Fisher said. “As a clergy person, I believe that God created each of us with all of the colors of the rainbow.”
The Becket Fund rally included fewer speakers, who primarily delivered remarks before and after the oral arguments, and broadcast the oral arguments on loudspeakers so those outside of the court could hear what was being said inside. The MoCo Pride Center rally did not break for the arguments, instead presenting programming from speakers and performers until around 1:45 p.m., more than an hour after the arguments concluded.
Lee Blinder, director of Trans Maryland and an MCPS graduate, said the school system’s strides toward stronger LGBTQ+ inclusion are an improvement from when Blinder was a student.
“There was no representation of my identity in a school system that otherwise taught me the immense value of a diverse school environment … seeing oneself reflected in society is essential to a grounded and affirmed existence,” Blinder said. “We are your teachers, your janitorial staff, your fellow students, the families of your fellow students. And we are an inalienable part of the fabric of this society.”
Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large), the council’s first openly gay member and a candidate for county executive in 2026, spoke at the rally, emphasizing the importance of students of a variety of backgrounds and identities seeing themselves in their school materials.
“Are we going to allow them to erase us from books? We are not, because when that happens, everything changes,” Glass said.
He said he was concerned that if parents can opt their children out of LGBTQ+ material in school, they will be able to opt them out of other topics such as evolution.
“[Public education] is a core principle of our democracy and our community. This fight that we are leading today is not just about Montgomery County,” Glass said. “If first they come for the LGBTQ+ community, we know they’re coming for everybody else. First they want to erase us from books, and we’ll see who else they want to erase in the future that will erode public education, that will throw us all back into the closet.”
