Thread by @glennagoldis

🚨 Schools Advised to Violate Parental Rights

In June, SCOTUS ruled that religious parents have a right to opt their K-5 children out of "LGBTQ" lessons. The case is Mahmoud.

In Mass., the governor and a private firm are advising schools they can practically ignore Mahmoud. 🧵

2.
Governor's guidance portrays Mahmoud as a narrow decision.

Instead of admitting parents are entitled to opt out, she says they can't be prevented from opting out.

Instead of admitting it's a broad decision, she emphasizes it's fact-dependent.

3.
The right way to advise clients on Mahmoud would be:

"See what Montgomery County did to Mahmoud? Don't do that!"

You'd list the 5 books at issue, because you know they require opt out, and quote specific SCOTUS language about why they're problematic, to help identify other lessons that might require opt out.

Gov. keeps it opaque.

4.
Gov. implies it's discrimination to leave "LGBTQ" people out of the curriculum.

It's not. The fictional characters in those story books lack standing to sue.

It's certainly not gender identity discrim, which would be favoring people with one GI over people with another GI.

5.
Governor Maura Healey wants the opt-out form to be "general" so it's harder and more confusing for parents to explain what they're asking.

Don't let them simply check a box that says "I'm religious, keep the drag queens away from my daughter."

6.
Gov. exaggerates schools' room for maneuvering.

SCOTUS already considered whether letting parents opt out of "LGBTQ" would interfere with schools' interests. It found for the parents.

Download: mass.gov/doc/joint-guid…

7.
MA schools are also receiving bad legal advice from Kelly Gonzalez, a private lawyer who reps MA school districts.


She pretends Mahmoud is not "clearly-written" and warns parental opt-outs will have to be resolved in court. drive.google.com/file/d/1r5ZgKT…

8.
Gonzalez advises schools not to send opt-out forms to parents but rather stick fine print into the school handbook that obliquely references "available accommodations."

9.
This contradicts Mahmoud, which required Montgomery County to notify the parents each time an "LGBTQ" book was taught and excuse their kids entirely from the lesson.

10.
Gonzalez advises schools to question parents about their religious beliefs.

Maybe the school can negotiate them into a different set of beliefs. Or determine they're just pretending to be Muslim because they think gender identity is toxic nonsense.

11.
Better advice on Mahmoud would look like:

Here are the 5 books in Mahmoud, the religions are Christian and Muslim - any opt-out requests from Christian/Muslim parents should be automatically granted re these 5 books and others like them.

12.
Gonzalez advises that it might be illegal to cancel gay pride for 1st graders.

Big, if true.

What law would that be? Her footnote says it is outside the scope of this memo.

13.
Gov. Healey and Kelly Gonzalez are not advising schools about what Mahmoud actually says. They're advising on how to construe it in the most anti-parent way possible.

They're not helping schools avoid litigation. They're setting up schools to get sued.

Thanks to Mass. Informed Parents for bringing this to my attention. Yes, there's already a lawsuit pending in Mass.:
substack.com/home/post/p-17…