What LGBTQ+ books are at the center of a new Supreme Court case?
Note: This story has been updated to reflect the June 27 Supreme Court ruling.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a Maryland school district's reading program unconstitutionally infringed on Christian and Muslim parents' rights to freely exercise their religion under the First Amendment.
The case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, centered on parents' rights to opt their children out from a reading program in the Montgomery County Public Schools, one of the nation's largest and most ethnically diverse districts in the country.
Some of the book titles in the reading program featured LGBTQ+ characters and themes of inclusion. Parents argued that a lack of an opt-out from the program infringed on their rights to freely exercise their religion under the First Amendment
In oral arguments in April, the district said it introduced a handful of books with LGBTQ+ characters into its elementary school curriculum as part of an effort to better reflect the community.
The justices' 6-3 ruling Friday along ideological lines overturned a lower court's refusal to force the school district to reinstate its opt-out option for parents.
After initially allowing students to be excused when the books were read in class, school officials had contended that they ended the opt-out requests because of the difficulty of managing a high volume of absences. Parents then sued, saying the books are at odds with their religions, which include Islam, Catholicism and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
What are the controversial books included in the case?
Below are a few of the books singled out in the court filing. The titles were introduced in the district's reading curriculum at the start of the 2022-2023 school year and included themes on LGBTQ+ people and other diverse backgrounds.
A decision in the case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, is expected by the end of June.
Contributing: Maureen Groppe
SOURCES: Court filings