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Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

Maryland parents have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to restore their right to opt their young children out of having storybooks that promote LGBT lifestyles read to them.

The petition in Mahmoud v. Taylor was filed after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit turned away the parents’ request for an injunction to halt the Montgomery County Board of Education’s policy of promoting the books.

The petition was filed with the Supreme Court on Sept. 12, according to the parents’ attorneys at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit public interest law firm.

The case goes back to November 2022, when the board mandated new “LGBTQ-inclusive” storybooks for elementary school students that promote gender transitions, Pride parades, and same-sex romance between young children.

The board directed employees responsible for choosing the books to use an “LGBTQ+ Lens” and to question whether “cisnormativity,” “stereotypes,” and “power hierarchies” are “reinforced or disrupted,” according to the petition.

Parents were initially told they could opt out on behalf of their children when the storybooks were read, but in March 2023, the board changed its policy. Starting with the 2023–2024 academic year, the opt-out policy would no longer be in effect.

Hundreds of parents, largely Eastern Orthodox Christians and Muslims, attended board meetings, according to the petition, and provided testimony that their religion required that young children not be exposed to instruction on gender and sexuality that was inconsistent with their religion.

Board members responded by accusing parents of promoting “hate” and likening them to “white supremacists” and “xenophobes,” according to the petition.

The parents filed a lawsuit after the board declined to accommodate them, arguing they enjoyed a constitutional right to keep the opt-out policy in place.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman denied the parents’ request for an injunction to halt the cancellation of the opt-out policy on Aug. 24, 2023.

A divided Fourth Circuit panel upheld the decision on May 15 this year, ruling that the parents had failed to demonstrate that an injunction was justified. The panel added that it took no view as to whether the parents would be able to produce enough evidence later in the proceeding to succeed in their case.

The panel also found there was no evidence that the policy change burdened the parents’ right to free exercise of religion.

Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund, said the Supreme Court should grant the parents’ appeal.

The Epoch Times reached out to the school board for comment but did not receive a reply by publication time.

It is unclear when the Supreme Court will consider the petition.