NCYL stands with LGBTQ+ youth and their families, and in support of inclusive education, despite SCOTUS decision upholding erasure

Today’s Supreme Court opinion undermines schools’ efforts to provide honest education

All children deserve access to public education that supports their healthy development, opens doors to opportunities, and prepares them for participation in our pluralistic society. Today’s Supreme Court opinion in Mahmoud v. Taylor allows parents to deny such education to their children, weakens schools' ability to create safe and inclusive learning environments, and risks school districts removing factual content from their primary curriculum. 

In Mahmoud, the Court held that parents’ First Amendment rights include the right to opt their children out of portions of an English Language Arts curriculum due to their “religious views.” The parents had objected to five storybooks in the elementary curriculum that depicted characters in their everyday lives, including LGBTQ+ characters. This decision further fractures the fabric of our nation, moving towards a future in which we are more divided.

This case is the latest in a barrage of attacks against the existence of LGBTQ+ people, but places everyone at risk of exclusion. The decision risks denying LGBTQ+ youth and families full inclusion in public school communities including being able to see themselves reflected in schoolbooks, and discourages schools from developing inclusive curricula due to the administrative difficulties of providing notice and opt-out to parents. Further, it portends future ideologically-driven removal of facts from public education — a disastrous outcome for democracy. 

“To LGBTQ+ youth and families: we see you,” said NCYL Executive Director Shakti Belway. "You are part of our communities and you are part of this nation. You deserve human dignity and respect. We will continue to fight with you for a society that fully includes you, your identities and experiences, including within public education. All students, not just LGBTQ+ students, benefit from a curriculum that accurately reflects our nation’s diverse communities and experiences. The targeting upheld in this decision is a dire warning: our coexistence with each other is on the line. Although we may have different beliefs and identities, we are one nation.”

Added Michelle Francois, NCYL's Managing Director of Education: “Today’s opinion cannot be squared with longstanding precedent or our nation’s history of supporting robust and wide-ranging public debate, nor with preparing young people for citizenship in our diverse society. Of course, parents want to guide their children’s understanding of the world and they have many opportunities to do so throughout their children's lives. But when we let some parents strip public school curriculum of real-world diversity, we are failing all students and our shared future as a nation. Every child deserves an education that teaches them how to engage respectfully with people and ideas they might not encounter at home.”

The Court’s decision potentially opens the door for parents to object to other curricular content with which they disagree on religious grounds, paralleling historical and present-day efforts which seek to remove accurate content from public school curricula that best prepares students for success in their lives and participation in society. As Justice Sotomayor expressed in her dissent from the Court’s opinion, “In the current moment, that means material representing LGBTQ students and families, like the Storybooks here, will be among the first to go, with grave consequences for LGBTQ students and our society. Next to go could be teaching on evolution, the work of female scientist Marie Curie, or the history of vaccines.”  

Now, more than ever, public schools must remain firm in their commitment to truthful education. NCYL calls on all public schools to provide students with comprehensive, inclusive education that prepares them for participation in society, higher education and the workforce.

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The National Center for Youth Law centers youth through research, community collaboration, impact litigation, and policy advocacy that fundamentally transforms our nation's approach to education, health, immigration, foster care, and youth justice. Our vision is a world in which every child thrives and has a full and fair opportunity to achieve the future they envision for themselves.