3-year-olds: School officials ordered to pay $1.5 million for forcing students to hear gender ideologies

As with many school districts across the United States in these days of “wokeness” and “diversity, equity and inclusion” agendas, officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, demanded that students be indoctrinated with transgender and other LGBT beliefs.

Then they lost at the Supreme Court, in a Mahmoud v. Taylor decision that restored parental rights to have a say over the lessons their children endure.

Now it’s going to cost.

A report from Becket confirmed that the Montgomery County, Maryland, Board of Education now is required to pay $1.5 million in damages to Becket’s clients.

School officials also must “comply with court-enforced protections for parental rights.”

The fight was over officials’ decision in the school system to require students to see and hear lessons about transgenderism and such.

They first installed the ideology in the classrooms, then took away the parental notification and opt-out options that had existed.

The students as young as 3 years old were being instructed in gender transitioning, Pride parades, and pronoun preferences.

Becket, in the court fight, represented a diverse coalition of religious parents including Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and won the fight at the Supreme Court, which decided for the parents 6-3.

The conclusion was that “the right of parents ‘to direct the religious upbringing of their’ children would be an empty promise if it did not follow those children into the public school classroom.”

Becket reported its Religious Freedom Index showed 62% of Americans support the court’s ruling.

Eric Baxter, senior counsel for Becket, said, ‘Public schools nationwide are on notice: running roughshod over parental rights and religious freedom isn’t just illegal—it’s costly. This settlement enforces the Supreme Court’s ruling and ensures parents, not government bureaucrats, have the final say in how their children are raised.””

Besides requiring parental notification and opt-out choices, the agreement “also requires the board to pay damages to the families and places the district under ongoing court jurisdiction to ensure compliance,” Becket said.