Posted on Monday, September 8, 2025
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by Alan Jamison
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2 Comments
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Seattle Public Schools is refusing to allow parents to opt their children out of LGBTQ-themed lessons in classrooms, despite the Supreme Court ruling in June that school districts must provide this option to parents.
The school district explains on its website that “there is no option to ‘opt students out’ of learning about particular identities or groups of people.” Parents can opt their children out of lessons specifically designated as “sexual health education,” but they cannot opt their children out of “LGBTQ inclusive instruction.”
Topics considered as part of this LGBTQ instruction include “book readings that include LGBTQ+ characters,” “sharing pronouns,” “displaying posters or flags supporting the LGBTQ+ community,” “acknowledging Pride Month or teaching LGBTQ+ history,” and “defining terms (such as ‘Transgender’ or ‘Gender Identity’) for the purpose of increasing kindness.”
In June, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that parents have a right under the First Amendment’s religious liberty clause to opt their children out of controversial lessons covering issues such as homosexuality and transgenderism. But now at least one school district in Seattle is apparently in open defiance of that ruling.
“It appears that Seattle is openly defying the Supreme Court of the US, which, in Mahmoud v. Taylor, just held that parents have a RIGHT to opt their kids out of this sort of LGBT indoctrination,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz wrote in an X post last week. “Any officials knowingly violating that right could be liable for big money damages.”
The school district has a list of “Gender Lessons” online for children in kindergarten through the fifth grade. The lesson for kindergarten students includes discussions of a book titled Introducing Teddy, which is about a “boy Teddy” who claims to be a “girl Teddy” in his heart. Other lessons also include books promoting transgender ideology to young students, such as My Princess Boy for first graders, Jacob’s New Dress for second graders, and I Am Jazz for fourth graders.
Moms for Liberty of King County Vice Chair Beth Daranciang voiced her concerns about the curriculum to the local outlet KOMO News on Saturday.
“It’s a dangerous policy,” she said. “Our children are in danger because the Seattle school district is liable for pushing an anti-scientific ideology on children, which does not allow parents to opt out.”
Seattle Public Schools has a long history of promoting controversial activities and curricula to students. In 2023, a middle school teacher within the district had students create cards promoting LGBTQ issues and then mailed them to the national Moms for Liberty organization.
Last year, the parental rights organization Defending Education also exposed that a “School-Based Health Center” provider within the district offered “gender-affirming care services” to students, which included “access to important medical interventions, including hormonal treatments.”
In May, Defending Education discovered emails where Seattle Public Schools staff accused Israel of “colonialism,” “ethnic cleansing,” “occupation,” and “genocide” in conversations with each other. In one of the emails, a transgender employee stated that the terrorist organization Hamas was “created and funded by Israel.”
Alan Jamison is the pen name of a political writer with extensive experience writing for several notable politicians and news outlets.
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