Press Statement
For Immediate Release: 6.27.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Parents in Battle Over Radical Gender Ideology
Court opinion in Mahmoud has implications for similar cases across country.
Washington, DC—The Supreme Court of the United States today in Mahmoud v. Taylor concluded that parents have the right to opt their children out of radical gender theory lessons in public schools.
Kayla Toney, Counsel at First Liberty Institute, said, “The U.S. Supreme Court today strengthened the rights of parents by ensuring that they have a say when it comes to the education of their children, especially when families’ religious beliefs are at stake. Our children do not belong to the state, and the government should not be able to hide what it’s teaching in schools simply because it doesn’t agree with parents’ values or religious beliefs.”
In a strong opinion upholding free exercise and parental rights, Justice Alito wrote for the Court, “A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill. . . . Such interference, we have observed, ‘carries with it precisely the kind of objective danger to the free exercise of religion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent.’”
First Liberty Institute and The National Center for Law & Policy filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of two California families in the Southern District of California urging the court to require Encinitas Union School District to provide notification and opt-outs to parents and students when promoting gender ideology. After a significant early victory, the case is pending on appeal.
Carlos Encinas, one of the parents in First Liberty’s case, reacts to the Court’s ruling today: “I am deeply encouraged that the Supreme Court grappled with this issue and got it right. Opt-outs are a simple way for schools to respect the religious beliefs of families like mine. I am grateful that parents of diverse faiths in Maryland stood up for their constitutional rights.”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact John Manning at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
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