Court states, “Under well-established constitutional principles, defendants cannot force plaintiff to choose between foregoing the valuable benefit of having his child attend public kindergarten and exposing his child to materials that would burden his free exercise of religion.”
We previously reported that MLLC, in partnership with the American Center for Law and Justice, filed a federal lawsuit against Lexington Public Schools for refusing to opt a 5-year-old Kindergartener out of numerous LGBTQ-themed books that violated the Christian faith of the student’s family. Lexington’s refusal came even after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision last summer in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which held that schools must give notice and an opportunity to opt out of content that threatens to undermine parents’ religious beliefs.
We are pleased to report that yesterday evening, a federal judge granted our motion for a preliminary injunction against the school and ordered them to opt our client’s child out of all content that “depicts or describes LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or activities, or LGBTQ+ political or social advocacy.” You can read the Court’s opinion here and view its order here.
In the wake of Mahmoud, Lexington and schools across Massachusetts have been doing all they can to stonewall religious parents who wish to exercise their rights. The schools’ playbook in this case and others has been to require parents to take dozens of hours out of their workday to review their child’s curriculum book-by-book and specifically identify every single material they object to (rather than simply opting them out of LGBTQ content generally). But even when the father in our lawsuit complied with the school’s unreasonable demands, Lexington still refused to opt his child out of multiple LGBTQ-themed books, which they claimed were just about teaching “tolerance.”
These books included titles such as Families, Families, Families, which uses cartoon animals to teach Kindergarteners that “some children have two mothers” and “some children have two dads,” Lovely, which depicts a man with hairy legs cross-dressing in high heels, and This Day in June, a book about a Pride parade featuring men in leather bondage gear and drag queens dressed as Catholic nuns.
Now, Lexington is enjoined by a court order from showing these books to our client’s child. In issuing this order, the judge found that we are likely to succeed on the merits of our claim that Lexington’s actions are violating our client’s First Amendment rights. And the Court’s order applies not only to books that our client had already identified as problematic, but also forces the school to identify any other materials with LGBTQ content.
This order represents a massive win for parents across the Commonwealth. Public school districts will now be on notice that playing fast-and-loose with parental rights will expose them to significant liability. If we ultimately succeed in this lawsuit or reach a settlement, Lexington could be on the hook for thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees. And schools will be advised that the responsibility is on them, not on parents, to identify materials in their curriculum that could burden a family’s expressed religious beliefs. To our knowledge, this is the first case on the issue of curriculum opt-out rights anywhere in the country since the Mahmoud ruling. It is highly significant that the Court here clarified that schools cannot place the burden on parents to identify every specific material they object to, which was a question left open by Mahmoud.
Yet, as we celebrate this remarkable victory, the fight isn’t over yet. This injunction only lasts while this lawsuit is still pending, and it remains to be seen whether Lexington will try to fight on. And if other school districts continue to defy parents’ constitutional rights, more legal action will need to be taken. Would you support us in our efforts to God-given protect parental rights by making a donation today?
Finally, if you or someone you know are being denied the right to opt your children out of educational content that violates your religious beliefs, we want to hear from you. Email us at contact@malibertylegal.org.
As we close out 2025, moments like this underscore why this work matters so deeply. Today is the final day to make a tax-deductible gift in 2025, helping ensure we enter 2026 strong and prepared to continue securing victories like this one for families across Massachusetts. Your year-end support makes it possible for us to stand in court, defend parental rights, and hold school districts accountable when they overstep. Please consider giving today so we can carry this momentum forward into the new year.