News
By Michael Hernandez, CaliRed, 8-27-25
CALIRED NEWS–Schools nationwide can no longer withhold parental opt-outs on a case involving LGBTQ+ “inclusive” storybooks under any conditions according to the June 27 Supreme Court ruling made on the Montgomery County, Maryland case of Mahmoud v. Taylor with Mahmoud representing Muslim, Catholic, and Ukrainian Orthodox parents and (Supt. Thomas) Taylor representing the Montgomery County School board.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of Mahmoud with Justice Samuel Alito writing the majority opinion and Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett agreeing; with Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissenting along with Justices Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson.
The Supreme Court agreed with the parents that they had a right to opt their elementary-school-aged children out of instruction that includes LGBTQ+ themes and the school board’s refusal to do so (due to the amount of parents that objected and the challenges presented) violated their constitutional rights to freely exercise their religion.
“Courts are not school boards, or legislatures, and are ill-equipped to determine the ‘necessity’ of discrete aspects of a State’s program of compulsory education,” wrote Justice Samuel Alito. He emphasized that “what the parents seek here is not the right to micromanage the public school curriculum, but rather to have their children opt out of a particular educational requirement boat burdens their well-established right ‘to direct” the religious upbringing of their children,’” under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.
Montgomery County lies within the Washington, D.C suburbs and with nearly 160,000 students enrolled during the 2024-25 school year. It is one of the nation’s largest school systems and it’s in one of the most religiously diverse counties in the United States.
The dispute was birthed from the county school board’s 2022 approval of books featuring LGBTQ+ characters for use in its language-arts curriculum.
One book, Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, tells the story of a little girl’s reaction to her uncle’s same sex- wedding; another book, Pride Puppy, describes a puppy that becomes lost during a Pride parade.
(Editor’s Note: Read the 135-page Supreme Court decision by going to:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-297_4f14.pdf and to read an opinion article by Richard Garnett: “Is Religious Freedom Possible In State Schools? https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/07/is-religious-freedom-possible-in-state-schools/.)
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CaliRed News is a news site posted on Making California Red by the 2028 elections through reaching Gen Z (ages 13-28), Hispanics, and Christians with biblical traditional values and their pastors. CaiRed News (founder and senior writer is Mike Hernandez) reports on political, business, community, nonprofit, and church news. CaliRed News is the Christian conservative/constitutional voice of Patriots who will vote into office a new governor in 2026 and “Make California Golden Again” while bringing faith (Prayer Over News Daily) and politics together. Free subscriptions are available at: https://substack.com/@calirednews.
Michael Hernandez, is co-founder of the Citizens Journal–Ventura County’s online news service and writes for CitizensJournal.net and MountainTopMedia.com. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor, writer of “Prayer Over News Daily” on Substack.com, the monthly Election Countdown, and edits the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes.” Mr. Hernandez mentors citizen journalists with trainings held every other month (on Saturdays at Shasta Bible College and online) and can be contacted at: [email protected] or at MikeHernandezMedia.com.
Aug 28, 2025
CA Schools Impacted By U.S. Supreme Court Decision On Religious Rights:
Mahmoud v. Taylor (Part II)
By Michael Hernandez
(Editor’s Note: To read “Schools Cannot Withhold Parental Opt-Outs According To Supreme Court Ruling go to: https://substack.com/home/post/p-172213808.)
CALIRED NEWS–Conservative leaders in California are predicting schools will be swamped with opt-out demands that “will likely cause turmoil, confusion, and years of litigation, largely because the (Supreme) Court offered no guidance on how opt-out requests should be handled, how religious belief claims can or should be verified, and how schools should handle potential logistical issues,” according to an Aug. 25 EdSource article by Thomas Peele.
LGBTQ+ advocates and defenders of the state’s “progressive” school standards are threatening discrimination lawsuits if opt-outs are granted and parents are threatening to sue if they aren’t granted immediately.
California requires students to learn the history of gay people fighting for civil rights and the story of the country’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. The San Francisco supervisor was assassinated in 1978 and posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama.
The ruling shows that “parents are the ultimate determination of whose values get taught to the child,” said Greg Bert of the California Family Council. “We’re now in charge of deciding what we think is good and what we think is not good.”
Educators are faced with the following questions:
- Should school personnel sort out the opt-out requests or should parents flag curriculum items to which they object?
- What do schools do with students whose parents opt them out of a class and where do they go?
- Who watches or instructs the youngest of removed students, who can’t be left unsupervised?
- Will school districts need to budget money to defend lawsuits from parents whose opt-out request may be denied?
- Can parents opt out their child from exposure to an LGBTQ+ teacher, or a teacher who displays a Pride flag in a classroom?
A Riverside County nonprofit law firm, Advocates for Faith & Freedom, created an opt-out letter, calling for children to be removed from any teaching involving “gender identity, the use of pronouns inconsistent with biological sex, so parents can raise children “in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.”
The letter gives school principals 10 calendar days to respond in writing. Lack of a response “will be considered a denial.”
The California Department of Education posted online in response to Mahmoud v. Taylor: “California law continues to promote a safe, fair, and welcoming learning environment in all schools. It is important to note that Mahmoud does not invalidate or preempt California’s strong protections for LGBTQ+ youth from discrimination, harassment, and bullying.”
“We’re advocating for good books in school…so we are not going to be sad if we see (these books) go,” said Burt of the California Family Council.
The presidents of California’s two largest teachers unions both said educators are not going to fold under pressure created by the high court’s decision.
(Editor’s Note: Read the Supreme Court decision on Mahmoud v. Taylor by going to:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-297_4f14.pdf and to read an opinion article by Richard Garnett: “Is Religious Freedom Possible In State Schools? https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/07/is-religious-freedom-possible-in-state-schools/.)
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CaliRed News is a news site posted on Making California Red by the 2028 elections through reaching Gen Z (ages 13-28), Hispanics, and Christians with biblical traditional values and their pastors. CaiRed News (founder and senior writer is Mike Hernandez) reports on political, business, community, nonprofit, and church news. CaliRed News is the Christian conservative/constitutional voice of Patriots who will vote into office a new governor in 2026 and “Make California Golden Again” while bringing faith (Prayer Over News Daily) and politics together. Free subscriptions are available at: https://substack.com/@calirednews.
Michael Hernandez, is co-founder of the Citizens Journal–Ventura County’s online news service and writes for CitizensJournal.net and MountainTopMedia.com. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor, writer of “Prayer Over News Daily” on Substack.com, the monthly Election Countdown, and edits the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes.” Mr. Hernandez mentors citizen journalists with trainings held every other month (on Saturdays at Shasta Bible College and online) and can be contacted at: [email protected] or at MikeHernandezMedia.com.
Aug 29, 2025
Santa Ana District Board Member Fights For Parental Rights:
Mahmoud v. Taylor (Part III)
By Michael Hernandez
(Editor’s Note: To read “Schools Cannot Withhold Parental Opt-Outs According To Supreme Court Ruling go to: https://substack.com/home/post/p-172213808; Part II: The impact on CA schools can be read at: https://substack.com/home/post/p-172224731.)
CALIRED NEWS–Santa Ana Unified School District Board Member Brenda Lebsack is arguing that “opt-out is not enough” because the State of California has crossed a sacred line. In an email sent to EdSource and forwarded to CaliRed News she writes: “Extremist indoctrination and sexualization of minors through public schools should not be an “Opt-Out” it should be a crime.
“The California Department of Education and the California Teachers Association are promoting a religion / doctrine and using public education as their conduit of discipleship. This doctrine squelches tolerance for diverse thought, rather it cultivates hate toward any religion, political party or science that promotes binary genders of male and female.
“The creator of our National Social Justice Standards is the educational arm of the Southern Poverty Center. This organization has a hate map On their map are orthodox religious organizations and law groups that defend constitutional parent and religious rights.
“The “plus” at the end of LGTQIA+ is described by the California State Board of Education as ‘ever-expansive’ and ‘ever-evolving’ genders and sexualities, according to their newly adopted Health Framework and Ethnic Studies Framework. The California Department of Education defines nonbinary as: transgender, intersex, gender-neutral, agender, gendequeer, gender fluid, Two Spirit, bigender, pangender, gender nonconforming or gender variant++ ‘and that’s not all folks.’
“The Trevor Project (endorsed by the California Department of Education) says there are over 100 sexual identities, such as abrosexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polyamorous, sapphic, grey-ace, sapiosexual, tri-sexual, bicurious…to infinity and beyond. And if we do not affirm these ‘plus’ identities, we are called racists, haters, oppressors, homophobes, transphobes, or supremacists. Non-affirmers are even called killers because refusing to play, this alphabet groupthink game, is the alleged cause of suicide.”
Santa Ana Unified School District board policy #514531 of May, 2023 outlines dealing with transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming students. The district has created an Identity Support Plan for school staff, caregivers, and students that Walter Myers, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, says “erodes parents’ rights which allows students to exclude their parents from being notified of their identities and experiences at school.”
Brenda Lebsack states that students may, with staff support, adopt a new name or pronouns or otherwise assert a new gender identity, and school staff are expressly prohibited from informing parents without the child’s consent. According to Lebsack, “this effectively redefines the parent-school relationship and makes school staff–not parents–the ultimate gatekeepers for life-changing information about a child’s identity.”
Santa Ana Unified School District policy includes no age thresholds. “Neither local board policy nor state guidance establishes any minimum age for the initiation of an Identity Support Plan. Lebsack “asserts that direct evidence exists of special needs students undergoing ‘gender-affirming’ counseling without parental knowledge.”
The curriculum recommended by both the California Department of Education and the California Teachers Association introduces students to the concept of puberty blockers and gender transition medications, framing them as “cures” for gender confusion. The CTA’s own policy advocates for access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy for children “with or without parent knowledge or consent.”
Lebsack worries that trust in the public education system will further erode–and the children at the center of the debate “may face unintended, and sometimes irreversible, consequences.”
(Editor’s Note: Read the Supreme Court decision on Mahmoud v. Taylor by going to:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-297_4f14.pdf and to read an opinion article by Richard Garnett: “Is Religious Freedom Possible In State Schools? https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/07/is-religious-freedom-possible-in-state-schools/.)
