In oral arguments for Mahmoud v. Taylor last month, the attorney for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) warned Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that if the opposing parental rights argument wins in court, “you’ll see an entirely different generation of challenges to school curriculum.”
Is that a promise?
Mahmoud v. Taylor was brought forth by multiethnic Christian, Jewish, and Muslim families in Montgomery County, Maryland, who argued that the no-opt-out “inclusive” books on LGBTQ+ subjects that MCPS had introduced in 2023 into English classes violated their religious freedom.
The books included titles such as “Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope,” which falsely teaches children that they can change sexes, and “IntersectionAllies,” which Amazon describes as “a smooth, gleeful entry into intersectional feminism,” containing themes of “gender fluidity.” MCPS chose to spend millions of dollars on legal fees defending these books rather than honoring the wishes of the taxpaying families who fund the district schools and entrust them with their children.
But putting aside the district’s reprehensible conduct—and even putting aside concerns regarding religious freedom and wokeness—the books have no literary value. Compared to children’s classics like “Charlotte’s Web” or “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” or the works of Dr. Seuss, for that matter, the MCPS books are unpleasant to look at, written in uninspiring prose, and are often inaccurate, to boot.
Take one of the books on the list, “Rainbow Revolutionaries: 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History.” On top of being visually unpleasant—the colors are garish and the illustrations of the people profiled have strange expressions—the book is anachronistic. Alexander the Great (356 BC to 323 BC) and Christina of Sweden (1686 AD to 1689 AD) are both listed as “Rainbow Revolutionaries,” based on some speculation that they may have had homosexual relationships in their lives. Maybe they did, and maybe they didn’t, but whatever the case, they were not “LGBTQ,” which is a contemporary political and social label that does not neatly map onto the past, even with historical figures we know to have been gay men and lesbians. Also included in the book is Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992), a black American who has become something of an icon in the contemporary transgender movement … the only problem being that Johnson was also not “transgender” identifying in the contemporary sense of the word, using both “she” and “he” pronouns and identifying as “gay,” a “transvestite,” and a “drag queen” at various points.
It’s also rather limited, seeing that each of the 50 so-called “revolutionaries” only gets a two-page spread: even for those who take no issue with these books ideologically or religiously, “Rainbow Revolutionaries” is at most a coffee-table book. As Justice Neil Gorsuch pointed out, “It’s not the human sexuality class …” that these books are being taught in, “It’s the English class.”
Beyond the content itself, which is ridiculous and obscene, such simplistic, poorly illustrated books are not worth studying in English class, which should be dedicated to the age-appropriate study of language and real literature, not drivel that’s going to be outdated within a year or two, if that.
Childhood is finite, a brief period during which the human mind is flexible and can absorb just about anything. When schools force rainbow-washed, dumbed-down books on the curriculum, they not only indoctrinate children but also rob children of time that could be spent engaging with the time-tested Western canon that is part of their heritage as Americans. Sadly, looking at the curriculum in districts like MCPS, one would think that American children’s only heritage is the pride flag.
As an Ethiopian Christian MCPS mother told The Free Press, “They’re trying to replace our values. They’re not just pushing [kids] to read books. They’re creating an army of our kids. It’s a religion for them. I feel like as a Christian, my kids are getting rebaptized in another religion.”
This is an inversion of everything American public education is supposed to stand for. Taxpayer-funded public education is supposed to work with families to help create responsible, well-informed Americans citizens who can be trusted to act in the best interests of their country. If the students coming out of the system are ideologically poisoned at young ages and are functionally illiterate, too—for context, about 46% of MCPS students are not proficient in reading—our national security and constitutional rights are at risk.
In other words, we should hope we “see an entirely different generation of challenges to school curriculum.” The future of this country depends on it.