School refuses to let high-performing Christian student graduate because she opted out of LGBTQ indoctrination class

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD- The culture wars continue in blue states, where a high school senior is being denied the opportunity to graduate next month in what amounts to religious discrimination, Fox News reports, as published on Yahoo News. 

At issue is a mandatory LGBTQ component of a health class, which the female student has been opted out of due to religious beliefs. 

The student, who will be identified only as “Jane” to protect her privacy, is a senior in Montgomery County Public Schools. She holds a 4.76 weighted GPA and scored 1450 on her SATs, which places her in the 96th percentile of all test takers. Her parents say she is also actively involved in her high school. 

Yet, despite her academic excellence, she will not be allowed to graduate since she didn’t complete a “mandatory” LGBTQ component of her health class. Her parents say the course contains “LGBTQ+ affirming” and “religiously discriminatory” content, which is objectionable due to their Christian faith. 

The family told Fox News Digital that they have been engaged in an ongoing battle with the school district for over two years seeking to have their daughter opt out from the course, or as an alternative, take a class at a private school or complete independent study to meet the requirement. Those requests have been denied. 

“She’s pretty distraught about not being able to graduate with all her friends and experience the rite of passage,” her father said. 

The parents have filed a petition with the Maryland Supreme Court asking it to conduct an expedited review of their civil case against the Montgomery County Board of Education. 

The saga began in August 2022 when the parents found out that their daughter was enrolled in a health class for her sophomore year that was required to graduate. Upon becoming aware of the LGBTQ indoctrination content within the year-long course, titled Family Life and Human Sexuality, they asked to opt her out of the course based on their closely-held religious beliefs. 

Screenshots of the teacher training documents shared with Fox News Digital by the parents ask teachers to “review LGBTQ+ resources to incorporate more inclusive language” throughout the entire course. 

The guide is chock-full of leftist talking points, including a list of “privileged” and “oppressed” people groups, identifying Christians as “privileged” and “Non-Abrahamic Religions/Spiritualities” as oppressed. The lesson further asks teachers to identify so-called people groups impacted by “health inequities,” including “trans or gender expansive,” LGBTQ+, and people who identify as non-Christians. 

 Further, another document called “worship of the written words” instructs teachers to recognize “White supremacy culture” in the classroom and at home. 

In their petition to the Maryland Supreme Court, the plaintiffs state they pulled their daughter from the class while seeking additional information about the curriculum. The school district refused their requests to view lesson plans or opt their daughter out of the class. Clearly, it gave the appearance that the district was trying to hide something. 

As an option, the parents suggested having “Jane” take the health class at a local, accredited Catholic high school, or through independent study under the supervision of a former teacher in the MCPS system with a health education background. 

The district refused these accommodations, mandating that “Jane” be taught by a current teacher in the district or fulfill the requirement through dual enrollment in a community college course. That was not an option, the parents said, due to a conflict with “Jane’s” high school class schedule. Further, it wouldn’t have shielded her from the pro-LGBTQ curriculum to which they were objecting. 

After the district denied their request, the parents appealed to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County last August. The court upheld the district’s decision, and the parents filed an appeal to the Appellate Court in January. 

However, due to the time-sensitive nature of their request, they asked for an expedited hearing, or a writ of certiorari to the Maryland Supreme Court, while their appeal waits in the Appellate Court. 

The parents believe it was wrong for the district to put pro-LGBTQ content throughout the entire health course, claiming that it was “restricted by law to the Family Life and Human Sexuality (FLHS) unit of the Health class, with parents having a regulatory right to opt out their child from that unit.” 

“We are not trying to get MCPS to stop teaching about LGBTQ+ or change its curriculum,” the parents wrote in a March 7 letter to the Maryland State Board of Education.”Wee are trying to get MCPS to keep that teaching restricted to the Family LIfe and HUman Sexuality part of the curriculum so we can get notice of it and opt-out our daughter, or if MCPS is allowed to spread LGBTQ+ instruction throughout the entire health class, as its teacher instruction materials say it is doing, it follows that MCPS should allow us to opt-out our daughter from the entire class. We are trying to get MCPS to refrain from discriminating against religion.” 

While it would be easy to transfer “Jane” out of the district, they have decided to keep her there in order to fight for all religious students in the district whose first amendment rights are being violated. Likewise, not all parents can afford the costs, transportation, and time to attend private or home school. 

The parents have also filed a separate complaint under FOIA where the district refused to provide class documents, accusing it of “knowingly and wilfully” withholding public information in violation of Maryland public records laws. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Montgomery County Board of Education, the Maryland State Department of Education, and Montgomery County Public Schools for comment, however, all declined to comment on pending litigation. 

The county is already facing litigation in a high-profile religious liberty case before the United States Supreme Court. 

That case involves the school board removing an opt-out for parents challenging LGBTQ books in the classroom. 

That suit, brought by a coalition of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim parents of school-age children, alleges the board is violating their religious freedoms protected under the First Amendment by forcing their young children to participate in instruction contrary to their closely-held religious beliefs. 

Oral arguments in that case were held last week in a case which could set a precedent for parents' rights in schools nationwide. 

Based on questioning by justices, it appears that at least the conservatives on the court were leaning heavily in favor of the parents. 

A decision on the case is expected early this summer.