Parents in Maryland will again protest the Montgomery County Board of Education, as the district continues to refuse opt-out options for gender and sexuality curriculum.
Parents in Montgomery County, Md., will again protest the district’s refusal to restore opt-out options for a gender and sexuality curriculum, tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Rockville.
Zainab Chaudry, director of the Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, published an op-ed in the Washington Post this week about the interfaith movement leading the charge against Maryland’s largest school district. In it, he makes the case that opt-out options are necessary for inclusivity, which the liberal district values highly:
For several weeks now, families have respectfully and in growing numbers led the call for opt-out to be restored in MCPS. This campaign does not seek to ban books. It is rooted in inclusivity and equity for all students in the school system.
Some detractors have described these sincere efforts as evidence of a “nascent alliance between conservative Christians and Muslims” or “the efforts of some Muslim Americans to attack the LGBTQ+ community.”
These sweeping — and false — generalizations are damaging and ignore reality.
If this public debate has proved anything, it’s that families have genuine differences of opinion on how and when sensitive content should be introduced to children. Our schools must provide space for families to play a central role in their children’s upbringing.
As so many communities throughout the country have learned, the opt-out is a common-sense solution to complicated issues. It recognizes that children are different from one another, urges students to respect and find value in those differences, and shows respect by allowing families to excuse students from lessons about gender, sex and family life.
As a public school system funded by tax dollars, MCPS has an obligation to embrace its diversity and demonstrate its commitment to every student’s well-being. The only way it can do that is by restoring families’ right to opt out.
Families said at last month’s Board of Education meeting that they won’t back down, even though the district does not plan to reevaluate the opt-out policy. Concerned parents will not cede to the state, and are maybe one of the only groups in America with conviction enough to succeed.
John Steinbeck writes in East of Eden: “Perhaps it takes courage to raise children.” These parents have plenty.