1st Circuit rejects parental efforts to shield children from H-Agenda indoctrination in public schools
It appears substantive due process allows parents to abort their child, but it doesn’t allow them to shield their child from H-Agenda indoctrination in public schools.
A 1st circuit panel has issued its opinion in Parker v. Hurley, No. 07-1528 (1st Cir, Jan. 31, 2008). A few excerpts follow:
The Parkers object to their child being presented in kindergarten and first grade with two books that portray diverse families, including families in which both parents are of the same gender. The Wirthlins object to a second-grade teacher’s reading to their son’s class a book that depicts and celebrates a gay marriage. The parents do not challenge the use of these books as part of a nondiscrimination curriculum in the public schools, but challenge the school district’s refusal to provide them with prior notice and to allow for exemption from such instruction. They ask for relief until their children are in seventh grade . . .
In sum, the substantive due process clause by itself, either in its parental control or its privacy focus, does not give plaintiffs the degree of control over their children’s education that their requested relief seeks . …
Requiring a student to read a particular book is generally not coercive of free exercise rights. Public schools are not obliged to shield individual students from ideas which potentially are religiously offensive, particularly when the school imposes no requirement that the student agree with or affirm those ideas, or even participate in discussions about them . . .
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[...] The ACLU has issued this press release, "Federal Appeals Court Says It’s OK for School to Teach Children’s Book Encouraging Tolerance for Gay People", cheering the ruling that we reported on yesterday. [...]