A case brought by Christian and Muslim parents, who objected to a Maryland school district’s decision to approve books with LGBTQ+ themes for classroom use, has landed at the U.S. Supreme Court. A decision in the parents’ favor could impose “Don’t Say Gay” requirements on every school in the country, Vox reports.

The plaintiffs in Mahmoud v. Taylor — represented by the Becket Fund, a legal group with a history of “religious freedom” advocacy for conservative Catholic causes — are asking the high court for notification from schools if their children are about to be taught from certain books that they claim contain LGBTQ+ themes. The plaintiffs also want the opportunity to opt their children out of the lessons.

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If granted, the relief would impose a nearly impossible burden on teachers to anticipate every instance of discussion of LGBTQ+ themes in their classrooms, notify parents when they do, and allow students to “opt out” of class for the duration of the conversation.

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The justices’ decision to weigh in on the case — which hadn’t made its way through the lower courts and still contains factual disputes — is in keeping with the conservative wing’s proactive approach to religious freedom issues.

After Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation gave conservatives a 6-3 majority on the court, five justices handed religious freedom advocates a victory in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, giving individuals who object to laws on religious grounds a broad new right to ignore them. In the court’s 2022 Kennedy v. Bremerton School District decision, they said coaches can lead post-game Christian team prayers (though the court’s decision misrepresented facts of the case).

The plaintiffs in Mahmoud v. Taylor argue that schools must notify parents if their children will receive “instruction on gender and sexuality in violation of their parents’ religious beliefs,” and must give parents an opportunity to opt their child out of such instruction.

But the Constitution doesn’t permit schools to provide accommodation to one faith — in this case, parents with anti-LGBTQ+ religious beliefs — when it doesn’t provide those same accommodations to other faith or non-faith groups.

The practical effect, under current law, of multiple individuals and groups seeking accommodation would be chaos in the classroom.

Such a circumstance has long been on the high court’s mind.

In a concurring opinion on a 1948 school case, Justice Robert Jackson warned, “If we are to eliminate everything that is objectionable to any of these warring sects or inconsistent with any of their doctrines, we will leave public education in shreds.”

In 1987, the court followed Jackson’s lead by deciding against the plaintiffs in Mozert v. Hawkins County Board of Education. The plaintiffs argued that the use of magical powers depicted in Shakespeare’s Macbeth offended their religious beliefs; as such, the parents claimed a right to choose what their children could or could not read and learn at school.

Whether or not the high court still agrees with their predecessors, this recent case that the conservative majority has plucked from obscurity, could determine whether LGBTQ+ identity has a place in public education.

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