Supreme Court Gets Spicy Over Maryland School’s LGBTQ Storybook Opt-Out Fight

The U.S. Supreme Court turned into something of a talk show this week as Justice Neil Gorsuch and the attorney for a Maryland school district exchanged rapid-fire questions about a children’s book at the heart of a major religious liberty case.

The case started after a group of Maryland parents demanded the right to opt their kids out of reading LGBTQ storybooks in public school. The star of the hearing? "Pride Puppy!"—a cheerful alphabet book once used in pre-kindergarten, where a dog gets lost during a Pride parade and readers spot things from A to Z. According to its publisher, it’s all about inclusion, celebration, and spotting rainbow flags—nothing too heavy, right?

Justice Gorsuch, never one to shy from a pointed question, pressed the district’s lawyer, Alan Schoenfeld, about the book’s content. Gorsuch queried if toddlers were really reading about "leather and bondage" in their English classes. Schoenfeld clarified that it was just a woman in a leather jacket—no Fifty Shades of Pre-K here. Gorsuch volleyed back with, "Sex worker? Drag queen?" To which Schoenfeld responded, nope, just a leather jacket, and yes, there’s a drag queen in the book.

The bigger issue wasn’t just what was on the page, but who gets to decide what kids read. Parents, represented by attorney Eric Baxter, argued the district violated their First Amendment rights by denying opt-outs for storybooks that conflicted with their faith, while still allowing exemptions for other religious reasons (like depictions of religious figures).

After introducing LGBTQ-themed books in 2022, schools were told to use them several times a year. Some schools, in the spirit of Pride Month, even read one per day. The district originally let parents opt out over religious concerns, but flipped that policy by March 2023, saying it was causing too many headaches with tracking and absenteeism.

Other books in the case include "Prince & Knight," where two men fall in love after slaying a dragon, and "Uncle Bobby’s Wedding," about a girl coming to terms with her uncle marrying another man. As the debate rages, the Supreme Court is expected to rule by late June.

There’s a lot at stake here: the boundaries of religious rights, the definition of inclusion, and apparently the difference between a leather jacket and a life lesson.