(Citizens for a New Louisiana) — The U.S. Supreme Court has handed down a 6-3 ruling in favor of parents who refuse to allow their elementary-aged children to be exposed to LGBTQ+ materials in school — a fight we’ve been waging here in Louisiana for years. In this article, we’ll walk through the significance of Mahmoud v. Taylor, how it mirrors local battles, and why this has always been about indoctrination, not inclusion.

Mahmoud v. Taylor: A Landmark Case for Parental Rights

The plaintiffs in this case, Tamer Mahmoud and Enas Barakat, Jeff and Svitlana Roman, and Chris and Melissa Persak, sued the Montgomery County, Maryland Board of Education and several board members. Though diverse in background, these families shared one conviction: refusing to be coerced into exposing their children to materials that contradict their deeply held religious beliefs.

• Mahmoud and Barakat’s three children, one of whom is in second grade, are raised in the Islamic faith.

• Jeff and Svitlana Roman, who have a second grader, follow Roman Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox teachings.

• Chris and Melissa Persak, Catholic parents of two elementary-age children, also objected.

What united them was their opposition to the district’s introduction of Pride Storybooks. These books, according to the suit, promote transgender ideology, encourage gender transitioning, and focus excessively on romantic infatuation, all without parental notification or opt-out options.

This is About Coercion, Not Censorship

Let’s be clear: This is not about banning books. It’s about forcing children to engage with ideologically driven content, in this case, LGBTQ+ themes, despite parental objections grounded in faith. Sound familiar?

In Lafayette, when we fought to remove sexually explicit materials from the children’s section of the public library, we weren’t banning books. We were protecting children. Yet, the same activist crowd decried us as censors while insisting your kids should be exposed to their values — and at taxpayer expense!

They call themselves “free speech defenders.” However, in a recent letter to The Advocate, they demanded that Robert Judge, a Lafayette Library Board member, be barred from discussing a proposed settlement unless it was held behind closed doors. So much for free speech.

The fundamental dispute the plaintiffs brought before the court was whether, as parents, they have the right to opt their children out of classroom instruction regarding the topics of family life and human sexuality. The suit argued that Maryland law did allow them to “opt out,” as well as the written policy of the School Board. If it hasn’t hit home yet, this isn’t about a group of people having access to materials. Nor is it about censoring certain materials. It is about children being coercively subjected to materials and instruction that are contrary to the religious teachings and philosophy provided by their parents.

Two Years of Fighting

The parents in Mahmoud v. Taylor filed their lawsuit in May 2023, requesting that the courts block the school district from compelling their children to read the Pride Storybooks. The District Court said no. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. But the U.S. Supreme Court saw it differently and reversed both rulings.

That’s a win. But it also illustrates how fragile our rights have become. It took two years and the highest court in the land to affirm something as fundamental as a parent’s right to say no.

Federalism and Decentralized Power

The Constitution was written to limit government, not to empower it to determine how children are raised. Yet here we are, watching unelected federal judges decide what values public school students must be exposed to.

This is the danger of a centralized judiciary. Most Americans are fine with it, so long as their side is in power. But what happens when it isn’t?

Why do these culture wars feel so intense? Because the government is too involved in every aspect of our lives. From MAHA healthcare mandates to public education, the battle isn’t just about policy — it’s about who controls your children’s worldview.

This is why we fight for decentralization, parental rights, and local control. The real threat isn’t just government but international corporate interests and propaganda machines working through Hollywood, Big Tech, and social media to mold public opinion and silence dissent.

Gator Scholarship: Escape the Indoctrination

Some critics argue that these Maryland families should withdraw their children from public school. Easy, right? Just homeschool. Or pay for private school. Except that means continuing to fund the very system you’re fleeing, with your tax dollars.

That’s exactly why we supported the Gator Scholarship program here in Louisiana: to give parents a real choice. Lawmakers like Rick Edmonds and Julie Emerson led the charge to fund it in 2024. But what happened in 2025? The Louisiana Senate chose pork projects over providing families with an escape hatch from failing or ideologically captured schools.

In a compulsory education state like Louisiana, when the system fails, it is your child who pays the price… for generations.

The Mahmoud decision is a win for parental rights. But the battle isn’t over. Not by a long shot. The forces that want to undermine your rights are relentless — in Washington, in Baton Rouge, and in your local school district.

That’s why we fight. And that’s why you should join us.