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submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

The judge cited the Supreme Court's recent decision establishing parents' right to opt kids out of LGBTQ+ inclusive lessons.

A Boston judge has ruled in favor of a Massachusetts dad who sued his local school district to ensure his five-year-old son is never exposed to books featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

As the Boston Herald reported, the father, identified in court documents as Alan L., is described as a “devout Christian” who objects to the inclusion of certain children’s books featuring LGBTQ+ characters in the kindergarten curriculum of Joseph Estabrook Elementary School, where his son, identified as J.L., is enrolled.

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[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 220 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Religion = denial of reality.

It should be illegal for religious people to indoctrinate children with their religious beliefs.
But in USA they have turned it on its head, and made it illegal to teach the truth because of religious superstition!

[-] jonathan7luke@lemmy.zip 49 points 1 month ago

In Texas, voters just passed a constitutional amendment giving parents the right "to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing" specifically for cases like this. Almost everyone I spoke to was in full support of it and kept saying "obviously a parent should decide what's best for their child". But as someone who grew up in a toxic religious family, it makes me so sad to see that there's no protection for kids in these situations. Parents can ensure they're doomed to a life of ignorance and bigotry before they even have a chance. :(

[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Legalized child abuse.

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[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 155 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I see this as a complete parenting fail. It is not your job as a parent to 'protect' your child from the world, it is your job to prepare them for it.

That poor kid is gonna need a lot of therapy later in life after he/she moves out on their own.

[-] CatZoomies@lemmy.world 67 points 1 month ago

Dad in the future: “Son, you never call or visit. You’re always so busy.”

[-] boogiebored@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago

Parents like this ultimately hope the child never moves out. It is a cult.

[-] myserverisdown@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Parents like this hope the child moves out when they graduate high school and get rich so their kid can care for them when they're old.

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[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You realize they don't really care? They just do it to exert control over public institutions. It's a way of threatening and eventually firing progressive teachers. Majority of those court cases are manufactured by right-wing think tanks and the parents are just some random people. In many cases the "victims" suing were not even real. It doesn't matter. The Supreme Court will eventually take the case and give Christians another win.

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[-] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 86 points 1 month ago

Doesn’t this open the way for a parent to sue the school over Christian symbolism? A parent could should take that school to court over a Christmas tree.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 36 points 1 month ago

yes and you know it doesn't work that way

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[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

It's Heads-I-Win and Tails-You-Lose in the Trump-stacked court system.

You're looking at the judiciary as some kind of impartial machine, but you need to see it as a Vegas Casino, where you can maybe win a hand or two here or there but the game is stacked against you by design.

There is no world in which a conservative court bans Christmas Trees or Crosses or any other Christian iconography, because these courts are run by evangelical Christians for the benefit of evangelical Christians. You might as well ask a Chinese court to remove images of Mao from the classroom or an Iranian court to outlaw the Koran.

[-] theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 month ago

I mean yes but also You're out of touch if you think the judges value internal consistency like that.

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[-] Sprocketfree@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 month ago

Pledge of allegiance should be banned too

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[-] RotatingParts@lemmy.ml 72 points 1 month ago

Christianity has harmed more people that LGBTQ people have. Many types of Christians have to try and save you by converting you. LGBTQ folks aren't trying to convert you.

[-] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Compare the number of Christians convicted of child sex crimes vs the number of LGBTQ+ who have and it paints a pretty one sided picture.

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[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Many types of Christians have to try and save you by converting you. LGBTQ folks aren't trying to convert you.

That's one motivation behind their behavior. Since they are constantly trying to manipulate people to join them, they assume the gays are recruiting, too.

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[-] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 57 points 1 month ago

Ok, no more Bible. After all eve came from Adam's rib right?

[-] Triumph@fedia.io 37 points 1 month ago

Now all I can think of is Eve pleasuring herself with a human rib.

[-] gh0stb4tz@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

New kink unlocked.

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[-] dhork@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Some Athiest should sue to get all religious texts banned in that district, using this ruling as direct precedent.

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[-] exu@feditown.com 19 points 1 month ago

The bible confirms God has male and female sexual organs

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

[-] boogiebored@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Gen 1:26 weirdly

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”

Monotheism came later.

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[-] MantisToboggon@lemmy.world 53 points 1 month ago

I don't believe in Christians

[-] rossman@lemmy.zip 49 points 1 month ago

Amazing they enroll someone in school to not learn things. Devout ignorance.

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 49 points 1 month ago

Kid is going to have a rude awakening when he runs a web query on his dad and everything that comes up has “gay” in the title.

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[-] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 47 points 1 month ago

Your Religion = What YOU can't do, NOT what I can't do.

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[-] E_coli42@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago

Ban books that show people wearing clothes with mixed fabrics! Its against mah religion!

Why do fundamentalist Christians choose homosexuality specifically as their hill to die on?

Leviticus 19:19

“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.”

Deuteronomy 22:11

“You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.”

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 12 points 1 month ago

Why do fundamentalist Christians choose homosexuality specifically as their hill to die on?

It's an easy out-group to identify and target.

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[-] mcv@lemmy.zip 36 points 1 month ago

As a Christian, I object to books featuring rich people, people who don't help poor people, people who don't heal the sick, and people who are mean to foreigners. Unless the perpetrators of those unChristian acts get their comeuppance, of course. Can I now demand from schools that my kid doesn't get exposed to those kinds of books?

[-] SayJess 31 points 1 month ago

Death. At this point, I just wish death upon these hateful people.

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[-] MehBlah@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago

That is when you know you are losing when you have to hide the truth from your kid.

[-] 20cello@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago

Bigotry ftw

[-] barooboodoo@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 month ago

As the Boston Herald reported, the father, identified in court documents as Alan L., is described as a “devout Christian” who objects to the inclusion of certain children’s books featuring LGBTQ+ characters in the kindergarten curriculum of Joseph Estabrook Elementary School, where his son, identified as J.L., is enrolled.

[-] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 20 points 1 month ago

Seems like an ideal candidate for home-schooling, though that's a shitty thing to do to a kid.

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[-] FerretyFever0@fedia.io 15 points 1 month ago

I didn't even find out what gay people were until like 5th grade. This is all completely unnecessary to achieve their bigotry.

[-] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

$20 says this fuck rubs it to gay porn.

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[-] Slashme@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The case isn't finished yet, I see, so maybe sanity can yet prevail. So far it's just a preliminary injunction.

“The question presented here is not whether the viewpoints of plaintiff, or those of the school officials, are ‘correct’ as a matter of religious faith or political or social belief. Nor is it whether the materials should be part of the kindergarten curriculum for other students,” Saylor, a George W. Bush appointee, explained. “Instead, this case presents a narrow question: whether these specific defendants have provided the required notice and opportunity to review materials that this specific plaintiff may find objectionable, so that he may opt his child out of classroom instruction that violates his religious beliefs.”

In granting Alan L.’s request for a preliminary injunction, which will remain in place while the case proceeds, Saylor ordered the school and district to “make reasonable efforts to ensure that J.L. is not taught or otherwise exposed to the content of the Identified Books, whether in the classroom or any other school setting” and to ensure J.L. receives “reasonable age-appropriate alternative instruction.”

Lawyers for Lexington Public Schools, however, said the district looks forward to “aggressively defending against these claims.” In a statement, attorneys Douglas I. Louison and Alexandra M. Gill noted the district’s existing religious-based opt-out program and that the Supreme Court’s Mahmoud decision “made it clear that depicting the mere existence of potentially-offensive values or lifestyles is not enough to warrant an opt-out, and that it is the messaging associated with those potentially-offensive materials that determines whether an opt-out is warranted.”

“In this case, the materials are not associated with any LGBTQ+-focused curriculum or paired instruction, nor was the student even exposed to the two books at issue,” Louison and Gill added, according to the Herald.

Louison and Gill also noted the burden opt-out demands like Alan L.’s place on schools.

“This is not like a student with a peanut allergy, where the implementation of an accommodation to protect the student is reasonably clear,” they wrote. “Schools are burdened enough without having to scour the pages of a storybook for potentially gay-appearing characters. At what point, for instance, is a character’s haircut too short to presume they are a woman? Are two men sitting together at a restaurant presumed to be gay, or might they just be friends? There are innumerable scenarios like these, and schools are now being forced to make near-impossible judgments.”

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[-] Bwaz@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

If there's a gilod, this guy's kid will be gay, and not shy about it.

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this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
536 points (100.0% liked)

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