Parents who want to opt their kids out of LGBTQ+ storybooks in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) curriculum will have their case heard by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether families can have an opt-out option, according to Becket law firm, the counsel representing the group of parents in their case for the option. The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case this spring.
Last September, the parents asked the Supreme Court to reinstate opt-outs after a federal court ruled to uphold another court’s order denying the option.
In 2023, three families sued then-Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight and school board members after MCPS said families would not be allowed to opt out of LGBTQ+ inclusive books in English language arts curriculum. Previously referred to as Mahmoud v. McKnight, Becket now refers to the case as Mahmoud v. Taylor as Dr. Thomas Taylor assumed the position of superintendent in June.
Per MCPS, state law lets families opt out of the specific family life and human sexuality unit but not other curriculum.
In summer 2023, there were multiple rallies in Rockville outside the school board meeting building during which parents voiced their demands for an opt-out option. Parents and advocates who supported LGBTQ+ inclusion in the school curriculum joined counter-protests.
That August, after a federal judge ruled against a preliminary injunction that would have required MCPS to allow opt-outs as the lawsuit went on, the former superintendent said the school system was “grateful and happy’ with the ruling.
