Christian family says school district won't allow daughter to graduate over mandatory LGBTQ health class

A star scholar at a Maryland high school is being denied graduation next month due to what her family says is religious discrimination The participant whom Fox News Digital is calling Jane to protect her privacy is a senior in Montgomery County Masses Schools MCPS who excels academically and is actively involved in her school According to her parents and academic records she is a leader in multiple extracurricular sessions at her school holds a weighted GPA and received a th percentile on her SATs However she cannot graduate without completing a mandatory fitness class which her parents say has LGBTQ affirming and religiously discriminatory content they find objectionable due to their deeply held Christian faith Jane's family explained Fox News Digital that they have been fighting for over two years for their daughter to be granted an opt-out from the lesson or be allowed to take an alternative class at a private school or do independent investigation under a tutor of their choosing to meet this requirement to no avail MARYLAND MOM TAKING FIGHT TO OPT CHILD OUT OF LGBTQ STORY BOOKS BEFORE SUPREME COURT She's pretty distraught about not being able to graduate with all her friends and experience that rite of passage her father declared With time running out before Jane's senior year is complete the parents have filed a petition to the Maryland Supreme Court asking them to review their situation against the Montgomery County Board of Training MCBE In August the parents learned that Jane was enrolled in a wellness class for her upcoming sophomore year which was required for graduation They became aware that LGBTQ content would be incorporated throughout the year-long discipline rather than limited to the Family Life and Human Sexuality unit of the curriculum as it had been previously Screenshots of alleged lecturer training documents obtained by the parents and shared with Fox News Digital ask teachers to review LGBTQ tools to incorporate more inclusive language throughout the entire discipline The lecturer guide also allegedly provides teachers with a list of privileged and oppressed people groups in which it names Christians as privileged and Non Abrahamic Religions Spiritualities as oppressed A lesson invites teachers to have students identify people groups impacted by vitality inequities such as trans or gender-expansive LGBTQ and people who identify with non-Christian faiths MARRIAGE PROMOTES WHITE SUPREMACY ACCORDING TO WHITE UNIVERSITY PROFESSORAnother document they received called worship of the written word asks teachers to recognize White supremacy values in the classroom and at home Their petition before the Maryland Supreme Court states that they withdrew their daughter from the upcoming class while seeking more information about the curriculum They claim MCPS has refused their requests to view the lesson plans or opt their daughter out of the class The parents suggested Jane take the vitality class at a local accredited Catholic high school or through independent review supervised by a former facilitator in the MCPS system with a soundness teaching background MCPS rejected these suggestions saying that Jane must be taught by a current MCPS coach or fulfill the requirement through dual enrollment in a area college unit which her parents explained was not an option because it conflicted with her high school class schedule and it still would not have provided her protection as a minor from the curriculum they are objecting to MONTGOMERY COUNTY SCHOOLS AWARDED CONTRACT TO DIVERSITY COUNSULTANCY FOR ANTI-RACISM SYSTEM AUDIT After the school board denied their request the parents appealed this administrative decision to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County in August In December the court upheld the school board s decision and the parents filed an appeal notice to the Appellate Court in January Because of the time-sensitive nature of their request they have petitioned for a writ of certiorari to the Maryland Supreme Court while the matter remains pending before the Appellate Court The parents argue that MCPS was wrong to put LGBTQ affirming content throughout the entire robustness program because this instruction was restricted by law to the Family Life and Human Sexuality FLHS unit of the Healthcare class with parents having a regulatory right to opt out their child from that unit We are not trying to get MCPS to stop teaching about LGBTQ or change its curriculum the parents wrote in a letter dated March to the Maryland State Board of Mentoring We are trying to get MCPS to keep that teaching restricted to the Family Life and Human Sexuality part of the curriculum so we can get notice of it and opt-out our daughter or if MCPS is allowed to spread LGBTQ instruction throughout the entire healthcare class as its coach instruction materials say it is doing it follows that MCPS should allow us to opt-out our daughter from the entire class We are trying to get MCPS to refrain from discriminating against religion THE SUPREME COURT APPEARS TO SIDE WITH PARENTS IN RELIGIOUS LIBERTY DISPUTE OVER STORYBOOKSThey've chosen not to transfer their daughter out of the district in order to fight for the rights of all religious students in the district who are being compelled to take this class to graduate and whose families cannot afford the costs transportation and time to attend private or home school The parents filed a separate but related complaint against the school in March over their requests for class documents Their complaint accuses the school board and MCPS of knowingly and willfully withholding society information from them in violation of the Maryland Inhabitants Information Act The Montgomery County Board of Tuition and Montgomery County Population Schools declined to comment on the pending litigation The Maryland State Board of Training did not respond to a request for comment Montgomery County Constituents Schools is at this time involved in another high-profile religious liberty development before the U S Supreme Court The occurrence surrounds the school board removing its opt-out for parents challenging LGBTQ story books in the classroom CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPA coalition of Jewish Christian and Muslim parents of school-age children have brought a lawsuit against the school board alleging it is violating their religious freedoms protected under the First Amendment by forcing their young children to participate in instruction contrary to their religious beliefs The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in the episode that could set a precedent for parents rights in schools across the nation The high court s conservative majority offered strong advocacy to parents presenting the religious liberty matter