A Maryland county Board of Education has been ordered to pay $1.5 million to settle a case brought by parents of different faith groups over the school district’s refusal to allow them to opt their children out of LGBT-themed lessons in public schools.
As Zeale News previously reported, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents — who included Christians, Muslims, and Jews — in June 2025, holding that Montgomery County’s school district could not unconstitutionally burden parents’ religious freedom rights.
The parents sued after the school district promoted gender transitions, pride parades, and pronoun preferences to young children and refused to let parents opt the children out of the instruction, according to a Feb. 20 press release from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the legal nonprofit representing the parents.
Becket added in the release that in addition to paying the settlement, the Montgomery County Board of Education must also “comply with court-enforced protections for parental rights.” Those requirements include giving parents advance notice when class content will include instruction on family life and sexuality and allowing them to opt their children out of the lessons, according to Becket.
Eric Baxter, senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the parents, stated in the release that the settlement demonstrates that disregarding parental rights and religious freedom is “costly.” He also said the settlement “enforces the Supreme Court’s ruling and ensures parents, not government bureaucrats, have the final say in how their children are raised.”
“It took tremendous courage for these parents to stand up to the School Board and take their case all the way to the Supreme Court,” he continued. “Their victory reshaped the law and ensured that generations of religious parents will be able to guide their children’s upbringing according to their faith.”