Mahmud v. Taylor: The Supreme Court Case Shaping LGBTQ+ Books in Schools
In June 2025, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that could change how children experience literature in public schools. The case, Mahmud v. Taylor, didn’t outright ban any books. But by deciding in favor of reinstating parental “opt-out” forms for LGBTQ+ inclusive materials, the Court set a precedent with wide-reaching implications.
At the heart of the case is a question far bigger than picture books: Should public schools reflect the diversity of our society, or should individual families be allowed to shield their children from ideas they don’t agree with?
The case began in Montgomery County, Maryland, where schools had introduced supplemental LGBTQ+ inclusive books into classrooms. These weren’t mandatory read-alouds but optional texts with teacher guides to help answer student questions.
For years, parents could sign an “opt-out” form if they didn’t want their child exposed to certain stories. But when the district eliminated that option, a group of parents from various religious backgrounds sued, arguing that the new policy infringed on their right to raise their children according to their beliefs.
Their claim rested on two points:
The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in favor of the parents, stating that the opt-out policy should be reinstated because the absence of one “likely burdens parents’ free exercise of religion.”
On paper, the ruling sounds narrow: schools must allow parents to excuse their children from certain lessons. But the ripple effect could be enormous.
Opt-outs send a message to both children and teachers. If a student is excused every time a book mentions two moms or a transgender child, what message does that send to classmates who live in those families? Does it suggest that their identities are optional, or even inappropriate?
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing in dissent, warned that the ruling “threatens the very essence of public education,” which is designed to expose students to a variety of perspectives, not just those approved by their parents’ faith.
The lawsuit and ruling referenced several titles, each already facing challenges across the country. These books are not radical manifestos—they’re age-appropriate stories reflecting diverse family structures and identities.
Taken together, these books don’t push an agenda. They simply reflect families and identities that already exist in schools.
The bigger issue isn’t just about LGBTQ+ books. It’s about where opt-outs could lead.
If parents can remove their children from stories about same-sex marriage, could others demand removal from lessons mentioning pork or beef for religious reasons? Could students opt out of group projects with classmates who don’t share their faith?
Public schools are meant to be shared spaces where children learn to live in a diverse society. When we start allowing carve-outs for every viewpoint, the system itself begins to fracture.
For children in LGBTQ+ families—or those who identify as LGBTQ+ themselves—representation in books is powerful. Seeing your family structure, identity, or experiences reflected in a story signals that you belong.
Removing those books or sending classmates out of the room during their reading creates the opposite effect: invisibility. It tells children, Your family isn’t appropriate for school.
This is why the stakes feel so high. The fight isn’t about whether a puppy goes to a pride parade. It’s about whether schools will affirm the existence of every child who walks through their doors.
Though Mahmud v. Taylor didn’t ban books outright, it established a precedent that will likely influence future cases. Other school districts may follow Montgomery County’s lead, either restricting LGBTQ+ books or creating broad opt-out policies to avoid lawsuits.
That’s why advocates are sounding the alarm: today it’s opt-outs, tomorrow it could be outright bans.
Children’s books are meant to teach kindness, empathy, and understanding. They normalize behaviors and values society agrees are worth passing down.
In 2025, the question is no longer just what stories belong in schools? It’s whose stories belong in schools?
The Supreme Court’s decision in Mahmud v. Taylor suggests that, for some families, acknowledging LGBTQ+ lives is optional. But for the children who live those lives, it’s not optional at all—it’s reality.
And in a society that values equality, that reality deserves to be reflected on the shelves of every classroom and library.
starting with just about the cutest book I've ever seen, pride Puppy written by Robin Stevenson and Julie McLaughlin. Why do people wanna ban Pride Puppy? A dogs need leash. Laws B, gay shouldn't have fun in public. C. There's no law saying a dog can't get married, or D, use of words, underwear and drag queen.
And that's right. The answer is D, use of the words underwear and drag queen in this adorable a, b, C book. A small puppy gets lost in a pride parade and they go through the book letter by letter talking about the things that they see as they are looking for their lost dog. Now this book is colorful, chaotic, and a little bit of fun because they're going to a pride parade.
There's a lot of rainbows going on. There's a dog running around. There is no mention of the words underwear or drag queen in the main story that a teacher would be reading aloud.
In fact, it is not until the very end where we find. Page, where you're supposed to hidden picture style. Go back and find the word in the story, there's gotta be a hundred words here. Each letter has like a dozen or more options. And if you come all the way over to Letter U, one of the hardest letters.
The word underwear is there. Let's zoom in and find the person wearing underwear.
Here he is. Take note here. He's got pants on and same with a drag queen. Drag is a form of theater. It's a form of art, and the drag queens in this story are standing on parade floats. They're completely age appropriate drag queens. So, you know, but if you wanna throw an entire adorable little book out over that, then you don't deserve this book anyway.
Let's go to the next book. Hey, it's Natalie and welcome back to Primary Focus, the Parents Guide to Elementary School. Y'all. I have to be honest with you, I've had a really hard time making band book videos in 2025, the political landscape has been really alarming and depressing. I swear the librarians of the Charlotte Public Library really, really wanted me to make this video today because every single book I needed was in stock.
Usually when I make these videos, I spend weeks waiting to get all of my books off of holds before I can film. But I was able to pick them all up on the same day that I started my research. So if you're a librarian, this one's for you.
Things got pretty serious this summer when the Supreme Court ruled on mahmud v Taylor, This Supreme Court case represents parents from Montgomery County School District in Maryland who are upset about supplemental lgbtq plus books in the curriculum. These books were not necessarily read aloud by teachers, but they were available in class and could be used in everyday lessons. The school district made guides that went with each book to help teachers answer any questions that may come up and handle concerns with sensitivity.
Now previously, parents who didn't want their children exposed to these nasty books had the option of signing an opt-out form and their child would be sent to the library for that portion of class. When the district got rid of the option for opt-out, they were sued by a group of parents representing a variety of religions.
These parents are making a claim that the new policy infringes on their religious freedoms, many are morally opposed to same-sex marriage and refuse to recognize the LGBTQ plus community. They believe that the school is violating their religious rights
these books are at risk of being banned because they're all related to the LGBTQ plus community, but the reasoning for some of them is wild. We are gonna walk through books from each grade level, preschool up to fifth grade, and though they're not banned by the Supreme Court or the federal government, several of these books were already banned or challenged across the country.
And the ones that weren't are certainly under a lot of scrutiny now.
Friends, this video is important because I fear this is the beginning of book Bannings from the federal government.
The United States is famous for not banning books. We have freedom of speech that extends to our libraries, bookstores, public schools, where books should be available to all. And if we don't step in, this could just be the beginning. So now let's take a look at these nasty books.
Kindergarten
Here's the kindergarten book, uncle Bobby's Wedding by Sarah s Brannan.
Now, I should mention here, there are two versions of Uncle Bobby's wedding in 2008. The original version was published here with these two gerbils. Rats, Cappi, Berra, and then in 2020 the author re illustrated the book with human characters.
This was the version I could get from the library, and both versions are in wide circulation. The story isn't changed at all, just new illustrations. So let's take a look into this nasty book We've got our main character, Chloe,
she wants to know why they're getting married. And they are explaining throughout the book that when two people are in love, and they decide to get married, that is a celebration. Chloe's excited because now she has another uncle the uncles seem to really like to wear blazers and vests without shirts. Even on their wedding day, they're going for this very sort of like cumber bun over the fur kind of look.
But I don't know if I was a hamster, I guess this is what we can do. But yeah, Bobby and Jamie get married and there's all the little mice and gerbils and rats and stuff that are there to celebrate. This is kind of your classic book that is almost explaining traditions and what things are like and how to celebrate people for kindergarten.
So, YOY do people want to ban Uncle Bobby's wedding by Sarah esp Brannan a, they wear blazers without shirts. B, the characters in the book don't get married in a church. C Ted Cruz looks like a rat and he's sensitive about it. Or D, the wedding is presented as a celebration.
and that's right. You got it, Dee. The wedding is presented as a celebration. Here's text from the ruling quote.
It is significant that the book does not simply refer to same-sex marriage as an existing practice. Instead it presents acceptance of same-sex marriage as a perspective that should be celebrated. So the crime here is that we have presented a wedding as a celebration. Find me a culture where it.
Isn't getting married is special because you found a partner for life. I, I can't imagine anything more worthy of being celebrated. I think that is absolutely ridiculous that the expectation is when we present a plot in a story, we have to also include the subtext of people who might not be happy with the plot.
Books would be ruined, if that is the expectation of authors to share every single viewpoint of people.
I found a quote from the author Sarah s Brannan, and she said, uncle Bobby's wedding is a gentle little story about a family.
I've read so many comments talking about sex being inappropriate in books for kindergartners. There is no sex in my book. It is a story about a family that ends with everybody dancing at a wedding,
and in fact, they don't even show them kissing the groom. They just go straight to the dancing and the celebration at the end. This is a fairly platonic, sweet little book about the kind of thing that a lot of kids are a part of. If you had a child who was going to be involved in a wedding ceremony, I think this would be a really great book to use for them so that they can kind of expect what would happen in the day.
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Thanks.
First Grade
Okay. Okay, hold on. Why is this book, why is this book banned? I can't find where the gay is.
Coming in hot with the first grade book intersection Allies. We make room for all by Chelsea Johnson, Latoya Council and Carolyn Choi. why, oh, why do people wanna ban intersection allies? A, it shows children at protests. B. It shows children in wheelchairs. C, they show children speaking Spanish or D.
On page 19, it says, bathroom should be a safe space, and you got it D. On page 19, the only mention of a child in the LGBTQ plus community. It says bathroom should be a safe space.
Where is it? These are just like about different types of kids and there's family life. Okay. Ah. Some may be confused that a kid like me can wear what I want and be proud and carefree. My friends defend my choices in place. A bathroom, like all rooms should be a safe space. And that's it. That's the only part of the story. That mentions anything about the L-G-B-T-Q community.
I mean, I guess at the end here, they have note to parents about all the different characters and things, a teacher is not gonna get up in front of the classroom and read this because it's not part of the story.
It's not designed to be read aloud to students.
Commentary: Outcome of case
So what was the outcome of this Supreme Court case? On June 27th, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled six to three that the board's no opt-out policy likely burdens parents free exercise of religion, and that the Optout policy and notice of books being read should be reinstated.
What does that mean? Bring back the optout forms. I am gonna read to you from the SCOTUS blog here, which is a really great resource to break down Supreme Court cases. Those suing contended that the school board's refusal to let them excuse the children from this instruction violated their First Amendment rights in two ways.
One, it robbed them of their ability to instruct their children on issues of gender and sexuality according to their faiths. And two, it burdened their right to control how and when their children are exposed to these issues.
I, I'm sorry, but one of the biggest philosophical challenges in parenting is that we can't control every last thing that kids are exposed to. And my guess is that if you're already morally opposed to people being gay or non-binary, you don't plan to expose your children to this ever.
So they're going to be exposed and it's not going to happen on your terms.
Now conservative Justice Alito said in the ruling that the parents are not trying to micromanage the public school curriculum, but instead let their children opt out of particular educational requirements, that are in the way of their religion. But Justice Sotomayor dissented saying, the decision threatens the very essence of public education because it strikes the core of the premise of public schools that children may come together to learn not the teachings of a particular faith, but a range of concepts and views that reflect our entire society.
Now, I'm sure this isn't a surprise here, but I agree with Justice Sotomayor. I mean, we have to teach kids to be good people. We have to show them how to cooperate in groups. The beauty of school is that kids are in public for the first time, but in a very protected space where we can teach them how to be good little people.
Part of that is reflecting the views of society to make sure that kids can operate in society.
When I saw this ruling, it made me wonder, how far is this gonna go? Can parents opt out from having children with gay parents in their class? Can students opt out of using a child's preferred pronouns?
And taking this away from being gay? What if a child is vegetarian because of their religion?
And we do a unit on where food comes from, right? Can they opt out of the lesson about meat? Should I remove every book in my classroom that mentions chicken nuggets or Turkey sandwiches? And would it be acceptable for us to ban pork products in schools because Jewish kids are attending?
Should we ban meat entirely? Because there are families that don't believe in eating meat for religious reasons. This is the slippery slope that I'm worried about, and it may sound pedantic to talk through, but this is the thinking here.
Court cases all set important precedents that interconnect and influence future cases. In particular rulings from the Supreme Court are used to guide how we interpret existing laws. So the outcomes here could be really scary.
And further, let's just call this what it is: we're discriminating against the LGBTQ plus community.
You'll be surprised at some of the quotes and things we're gonna talk about in this video. But the thing is, same sex couples get to send their kids to public school just like everybody else. We cannot pretend that these communities don't exist and aren't present in the school system.
I mean, imagine what it would feel like to have kids get sent out of class to the library during one of the rare times that the teacher gets to acknowledge that your family exists. And the rest of the time we can't really acknowledge your family structure
and when Jimmy's moms get to come in with cupcakes on his birthday, well those kids get excused to the library too because we're teaching, it's acceptable to have two moms. You know, it's not uncommon for same sex couples to act like they're single parents to avoid discrimination from the school. When I was teaching, there were a few times over the years when I discovered later on that a parent had two moms or two dads.
Every time this happened, I wondered why didn't I know sooner? Had I done something to make them feel uncomfortable? Had I sent messaging out that I wasn't a safe classroom for them? But I've come to realize over time that it wasn't me at all. It's court cases and legislation like this that say, you are not welcome here.
Do not come as you are, which influence same-sex couples to fade into the background and to hide themselves. even where I taught the paperwork that came from the school district and from the state asked for information of the mother and the father making a statement that families with a father and a father are not welcomed before they ever entered the school building.
2nd GRADE
Next up My Rainbow by Trinity and Deshawna. Neil, why or Y do people wanna ban my rainbow? A? That wig looked awful. B, it's weird to have a pet pig. C their barefoot. Most of the book, or D the main character is a transgender girl, and you got it. D the main character is a transgender girl. This story is so cute.
It is written by a mother-daughter duo. They base this on their own lives. So you can see it is about a little girl named Trinity. They're at home, they've got this pet pig that's throughout the story. Trinity is a little autistic black girl living her best life, but she is feeling a little bit of stress about the length of her hair.
So she and her mom are problem solving in the book about what are we gonna do about this? Are we gonna get, you know, a wig? Are we gonna get hair extensions? And finally, the mom and the brother decide that they wanna do something special. And the mom makes her this gorgeous rainbow wig, and she's so excited and wears it around the house.
It is really, really cute and I don't really understand why a book like this needs to be pulled from shelves. I think this book is written for kids that need it, who need to see themselves represented for kids who maybe have friends or family that are just like Trinity.
these are the kinds of books that give a voice to kids that very often don't see themselves represented in the media. And this stuff makes a really, really big difference. This is what I'm gonna say though. Of all the books, my Rainbow isn't specifically mentioned in the ruling and I am so thankful for that.
This book is written by a mother-daughter team. It is based on their life and it is very clear throughout the book that the main character Trinity is a black, autistic transgender girl. It would be devastating to hear the Supreme Court justices making an example out of her. So let's hold a little bit of space for our main character, Trinity and all the kids that see themselves in her. I would hate to see her story get caught up any further in this mess, and I hope they keep writing books like this because there is somebody out there who really needed to see a story like Trinity's.
3rd Grade
Third grade. Why? Oh, y do people wanna ban prince and night a violent scenes with a dragon? B. Marriage is an adult topic. C, they drink wine at dinner, or D, they present the concept of being gay as if it's universally accepted. And you got it. D. They present the concept of being gay as if it's universally accepted.
Now, I've covered this book before because it comes up on band book lists a lot. I dove more into it in this band book video here.
I wanna read a page to you that comes up in the ruling, the very last page of the book, it reads, and on the two men's wedding day, the air filled with cheer and laughter for the prince and his charming night would live happily ever after the end.
This is a book that is essentially a kid's fairytale story. It follows the same pattern as classic fairytales, and so it's right that it ends with the wedding At the end, it's supposed to feel a little bit like Cinderella, but here's a quote from the ruling. Those celebrating same-sex weddings are not just family members and close friends, but the entire kingdom for young children, to whom this and the other storybooks are targeted, such celebration is liable to be processed as having moral connotations.
If this same-sex marriage makes everyone happy and leads to joyous celebration, by all doesn't that mean it is in every respect a good thing. Going on it says, high schoolers may understand that the widespread approval of a practice does not necessarily mean that everyone should accept it, but very young children are most unlikely to appreciate that. Fine point.
Why do we need to teach that? Fine point. Same-sex marriage is legal in the us so haven't we decided that as a country it is in every respect a good thing. Reading this quote took my breath away.
I thought this case was about books in school and now it feels like we're debating whether or not same-sex marriage should be legal. What is happening here?
just like with the book, uncle Bobby's wedding, at what point do we have to add social commentary for every possible opinion to the plot? Does the author have to add a line saying, and the entire kingdom was happy except for a couple of people who couldn't mind their business.
Keep in mind, teachers are not using these books to teach about same-sex marriage. They're using these books talking about the setting the characters, the problem and solution.
We don't just pick books to only teach the lesson that is in them. These are connected back to the curriculum
i'm not gonna spend my time reading a book like this and then give them the history of same-sex marriage in the United States. I'm gonna give them a chart where they can fill out the problem and solution. Chloe was a little nervous about the wedding and then Chloe found out that the wedding wasn't a big deal and she actually had fun problem solution.
If you're watching right now and you're wondering how to help, I've got some organizations in the description to support and if you wanna see more band book videos from me, you can support by becoming a member on YouTube or Patreon. you can also do a one-time thanks by buying me a coffee or sending me a super thanks on YouTube.
4th Grade
Fourth grade. Why do people wanna ban love Violet?
A, the kids have a male teacher. B, we shouldn't be talking about crushes in school. C, Mira and Violet are a biracial couple. Or D, we shouldn't be talking about gay crushes in school. And you got it. It's D, we shouldn't be talking about gay crushes in school. In this story, Mira has a crush on Violet.
Valentine's Day is coming up and she's trying to figure out what to do. It is not, should I ask her out on a date or anything like that. She's actually debating the entire time how to sign the Valentine and say, from Violet. Sincerely Violet, love, violet, while some people might be a little bit concerned about, you know, romance and things like that in school, I think this is absolutely on the elementary school level about like what to do with your feelings, how to express how you're feeling to friends, to family and, and how you wanna leave your mark when you are writing a letter and when you are communicating with people.
Alas, because it is a gay crush and not a heteronormative crush. This is the kind of thing that people would hate to see in our schools.
5th Grade
Fifth grade, why do people want to ban Born Ready? The story of a true Boy named Penelope. This book is written by Jodi Patterson, and illustrated by Charnel Pickney Barlow. A pretending to be a ninja encourages violence. B, the children have to wear uniforms to school.
C Girls rule, boys drool or D, an tender scene with the mother, adults may interpret the mother's support as a promise to get gender affirming medical care, even though there's no mention of it whatsoever. And that's right. It's d and a tender seen with the mother.
Adults may interpret the mother's support as a promise to get gender affirming medical care, even though there's no mention of it what so ever. Let's take a look inside this book. Born Ready is about a child that is four turning five years old and feels like they're a boy. Penelope is talking to their family about this, the family shows a way to be supportive, a way to talk about these feelings . I wanna read to you this page, before I dive into what the ruling actually said. Penelope is trying to explain why they're feeling so angry to the mom. Timeout. Peppy. Why are you so angry? Mama asks, because everyone thinks I'm a girl. However you feel is fine, baby. It's what's on the inside that matters most. If you feel like a boy, that's okay. No mama. I don't feel like a boy.
I am a boy. Oh, mama gets quiet. I love you, mama, but I don't want to be you. I want to be papa. I don't want tomorrow to come because tomorrow I'll look like you. Please help me mama. Help me be a boy. I hold mama's hand and I transfer some of my ninja powers for her to understand, and this is the part I want you to listen closely to.
Then Mama says the best word that I've ever heard. Yes. She says, we will make a plan to tell everyone we love what we know. What's that? You are a boy for the first time. My insides don't feel like fire. They feel like warm golden love.
now I want to tell you what the ruling says about that. They said, quote, not only does the story convey the message that Penelope is a boy simply because she chooses to be, but it slyly conveys a positive message about transgender medical procedures. Where they make a plan and then they spend the rest of the book telling everybody, he's a boy.
I've read this book several times, trying to find where they're implying that he is about to go get medical treatment and. It just isn't there. They're not talking about surgery, they're not talking about puberty blockers or, or anything else. And even if that was something that the author wanted to put in, for some reason it really wouldn't make sense to the plot because the kid is literally turning five in the book. It wouldn't even make sense to bring that up as an option,
Somehow an adult has read this and has decided to place on this book that they're talking about medical procedures, even though there's no discussion of it whatsoever. And this is some of the stuff that scares me about this case. Just because I know about things and can draw connections and, and wonder where this child's life is gonna go, doesn't mean that that is what is covered in the books.
You can wonder what this child's life is gonna be like. But there's nothing in this book that is implying that that is the direction things are gonna go. Especially because the child is so young.
Closing
I wanna read you another quote from this ruling that summarizes the overall thought process in this case. Like many books targeted at young children, these books are unmistakably normative. They're clearly designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated in certain contrary views and beliefs as things to be rejected.
When I read this, at first I thought, duh, this is what children's literature is all about. Like it's normalizing things. It's teaching kids about behavior, it's sharing experiences with children. But then I became concerned because teachers spend a lot of time teaching social emotional learning and societal norms.
In school we are teaching children to be kind. We are teaching children to be accepting, how to work with other children. In a day and age where anti-bullying campaigns have become lifelines to children, we are now telling children that.
They can pick and choose who they are kind to. We're telling them that we are allowed to decide certain types of people are not normal and we should shun them and be excused from class when we talk about them. When did teaching children to be decent human beings become controversial.
This case makes me really nervous about what other cases will go through because of Mahmud versus Taylor. What changes school districts will be forced to make because of this and that religious beliefs are being prioritized over the way that people are born friends, our public schools and libraries are under attack. Every single time I make one of these videos, the stakes get a little bit higher. If you go back and watch my original ones from September, 2022, I'm referencing books that were banned and challenged decades ago. The concept seemed preposterous to me. I didn't think book bands were a major concern, and honestly, I decided to start this series because it was a trending topic on YouTube.
But now I'm not covering banned books week. I'm covering books that were banned by the entire state of Utah, and the Supreme Court is getting dangerously close to banning books themselves. when I see these books being challenged and banned, it represents far more than words on a page. It represents people's lives the lengths people and our elected officials will go to, to disenfranchise some of the most vulnerable people in our country. Don't let them take you down because it's just like the justices said, if these books make everyone happy and leads to joyous celebration, by all doesn't that mean it is in every respect a good thing?
If you're interested in these books, there are links to buy every single one in the comments below from Indie Booksellers and become a member to support primary focus so I can make more band book videos like this.
Thanks for watching, liking and commenting on this video. I'll see you next time.
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