On the last day of its term, the United States Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, finding that parents are entitled to opt their children out of school curricula that expose children to LGBT-inclusive books.
Allowing parents to block their children from accessing curricula that convey affirming, inclusive messages about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people deals a blow to the rights of children and discourages schools from depicting diverse families and identities.
In practice, a sweeping parental opt-out not only affects those children whose parents object to inclusive curricula. The logistical difficulties of allowing parents to opt their children out of classroom depictions of LGBT families is likely to discourage educators from using LGBT-inclusive books at all, depriving all children of access to these materials.
As the international Committee on the Rights of the Child has recognized, LGBT students often lack access to inclusive resources, and schools should act to ensure they receive that information. Barring children from this information, the committee said, jeopardizes their right “to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds.”
Restricting access to inclusive materials also serves to foster discrimination and stigmatize children who have LGBT family members or are LGBT themselves. It sends a message that being LGBT is inappropriate or immoral, further isolating students who already experience exclusion or mistreatment in schools.
The ruling comes at a time when states and school districts across the United States have aggressively censored or limited access to books on race, gender, and sexuality. According to the Movement Advancement Project, an independent nonprofit think tank advancing equity and inclusion in the US, only 8 states have LGBT-inclusive curriculum standards, while 19 states have now enacted laws that restrict or require parental notification of the use of LGBT-inclusive materials.
As Human Rights Watch has documented, laws or policies that restrict what schools can teach have reinforced discrimination, pushed teachers to self-censor, and limited the viewpoints available to students. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, lawmakers and schools should stay the course, protect inclusive curricula for students whose parents do not opt them out, and ensure that schools reflect the diversity of the world their students inhabit.
Courts, policymakers, and educators should remember that children’s rights—not just parental preferences—deserve meaningful protection in education systems.