A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling affects LGBTQ+-inclusive materials in school classrooms. But it does not impact Oregon’s ability to implement its new book ban law.
In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Mahmoud v. Taylor case that school systems, for now, are required to provide parents with an “opt-out” provision that excuses their children from class when course material conflicts with their religious beliefs.
At the center of the case is the Montgomery County school system in Maryland. A group of parents sued the school board, as reported by NPR, seeking to opt their elementary school children out of classes when the reading material included books with LGBTQ+ characters. The parents argued that without an opt-out provision, their First Amendment religious freedoms were violated.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents in a 6-3 decision. The decision was not a final ruling in the case, as reported by the Associated Press. It reversed lower-court rulings that sided with the Montgomery County school system. Now, the case returns to the lower court for reevaluation under the Supreme Court’s new guidance.
But just days before the federal ruling, Oregon lawmakers passed a bill on a related topic.
Senate Bill 1098 ensures school libraries in Oregon are not allowed to remove books based solely on the content being by or about members of a protected class. Titles can’t be removed based on factors such as race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or military status.
That’s important, as state trends often mirror national ones: The books most frequently challenged across the country are often by or about people of color, women and LGBTQ+ communities.
State lawmakers came close to passing a similar bill last spring, but it died at the last minute.
This session, parents again expressed concerns that the restrictions on book bans would lead to their children being exposed to inappropriate materials. However, proponents of the “Freedom to Read” bill ultimately prevailed.
Books can still be challenged on other grounds. For example, someone can still push to remove or limit a specific title if they think it is not appropriate for a certain age group.
Here’s where things tie into the federal ruling: Under Oregon’s new law, individual parents can’t remove titles from school libraries for discriminatory reasons. But they can still opt their children out of individual books.
So, even though the catalyst behind the Supreme Court case and the Oregon bill came from opposing sides of the ideological spectrum, they overlap in parents’ abilities to make choices for their children.
“Nothing in Senate Bill 1098 removes parents from the picture,” explained Kelly Simon, the legal director for the ACLU of Oregon. The local ACLU branch was a partner on the Oregon bill this session.
“When we’re talking about students accessing library books, parents can still place limits on their own children,” Simon said. “What they can’t do is make decisions for the entire school.”
Simon said when we’re talking about banned books and the materials that a school makes available on a more volunteer basis — largely in the context of a school library — that’s a “very different context than what we saw in Mahmoud v. Taylor.”
Further, nothing in Oregon’s new law compels any family to read any particular materials. It just says schools can’t make discriminatory decisions about what they make available.
“The ACLU of Oregon will continue to be vigilant in monitoring discriminatory book bans across the state of Oregon,” Simon said. “We continue to be concerned about that, and parents and families and kids in those school districts have the right to access those materials.
“The First Amendment right to access information was not negated in Mahmoud v. Taylor,” she added, “and the ACLU of Oregon will defend those rights.”