Tip Sheets
If parents can opt out of LGBTQ themes, can others opt out of traditional ones?
April 22, 2025
Media Contact
Damien Sharp
Hearing arguments today on whether religious parents should be permitted to opt out their children from public school story time that includes LGBTQ themes, U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared to favor the idea that parents can remove their children from these lessons.
Landon Schnabel, a professor at Cornell University, researches how "religious freedom" can be utilized as a proxy for personal preferences.
Willow Starr, an associate professor at Cornell University, says securing this "freedom" would require schools not just to audit every word of the curricula, but the speech of teachers, parents and students too.
Landon Schnabel
Associate Professor of Sociology
“This situation prompts reflection on the boundaries of religious liberty in a pluralistic society. If parents can opt out of curricula that acknowledge certain family structures based on religious beliefs, could others request exemptions from lessons mentioning traditional families?
“Could parents remove their children from class because of a book portraying a heterosexual family in which the father works outside the home and the mother stays home? Public education aims to reflect and prepare students for the world they live in, not to endorse specific worldviews or keep students from learning about people whose lives are different from their own.
“Research, including my own, indicates that appeals to ‘religious freedom’ can sometimes serve as proxies for personal preferences, applied selectively to uphold one’s own group’s interests while resisting broader applications.
“The court’s decision will contribute to the ongoing discourse on how to balance individual freedoms with the collective responsibilities of public institutions in a society made up of people with different beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of life, all seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Willow Starr
Associate Professor
"The parents in this case contend that opting out of curricula featuring LGBTQ+ people is required to freely practice their religion. Their religious practice is therefore claimed to be curtailed by their kids simply knowing that LGBTQ+ people exist and what we’re like.
"This extremist model of religious freedom would also conflict with coming into contact with LGBTQ+ people and their stories. Securing this ‘freedom’ would require schools not just to audit every word of the curricula, but the speech of teachers, parents and students too. Could the children of my LGBTQ+ family share stories of their lives without such an audit?
"History reminds us that religious freedom was also used to argue for the protection of racially segregated schools, and it is hard to see this as anything different. While the FBI reports spikes in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes, do Americans really need to know less about us?
