A divided federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a bid by a group of Maryland parents to force a school district to allow them to opt their elementary school children out of being assigned to read books that include LGBTQ characters. A 2-1 panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held, that the parents had not demonstrated how the Montgomery County Board of Education’s book policy would burden anyone’s rights to freely exercise religion.
“At present, however, no evidence in the record connects the requisite dots between the Parents’ children’s ages or mental capacity and their unknown exposure to the Storybooks to conclude that the Parents have already shown that a cognizable burden exists,” he wrote. Agee’s opinion was joined by U.S. Circuit Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden. U.S. Circuit Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr.