Schools navigate 'opt-out' ruling

Parents can refuse LGBTQ+ lessons for kids. How will that work?

- BY THOMAS PEELE AND HOWARD BLUME

CARLIN STIEHL Los Angeles Times

STUDENTS at Maya Angelou High School last month. Educators are figuring out how to handle requests to skip LGBTQ+ lessons.

As the new academic year begins, schools throughout California are grappling with how to carry out a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing parents to withdraw their child from classroom lessons on LGBTQ+ issues and other subjects that conflict with their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Attorneys and educators predict that implementing the high court ruling in Mahmoud vs. Taylor could prompt confusion and litigation as schools figure out the logistics of handling opt-out requests — including how religious belief claims can or should be verified and how to continue to teach students who are pulled out of classes during the school day.

"There is a lot of trepidation about how to handle this issue in a way that is legally compliant and doesn't trigger a backlash from one side of the issue or the other," said Troy Flint, a spokesperson for the California School Boards Assn.

California law requires students learn and be provided instructional materials that explain the "role and contributions" of, among others, "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans."

The state-approved social science framework notes that teachers should use age-appropriate materials to discuss and teach about the "the diversity of humankind." In most districts, leaders "are hesitant to address this publicly for fear of attracting more scrutiny and making the issue even more difficult to manage," Flint said.

MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times

A JUNE 2023 demonstration against a planned Gay Pride assembly at L.A.'s Saticoy Elementary school.