The St. Louis Park School District has made a decision to permit parents to exclude their children from any curriculum that endorses LGBTQ ideology, as reported by Alpha News.
This decision was prompted by a letter from the First Liberty Institute and True North Legal, representing six Muslim families, arguing that compelling Muslims to participate in LGBTQ lessons infringes upon the First Amendment.
These families had previously asked the school to inform them when LGBTQ-focused lessons were being conducted, enabling them to withdraw their children from those specific lessons. The Liberty Institute stated, The St. Louis Park (MN) public schools are allowing several Somali American children to opt-out of sexually based materials being taught in English classes after the law firms sent two letters explaining how the districts previous denial of opt-outs violated the First Amendment and state law.
The First Liberty Institute further elaborated that the St. Louis Park public schools are now permitting several Somali American children to opt-out of sexually based materials taught in English classes. The six families, devout Muslims who migrated from war-torn Somalia over the past two decades, requested notification and the option to opt out when their elementary school students are taught LGBTQ-affirming books that promote these identities. The elementary schools are now honoring opt-out requests, and so are St. Louis Park Middle School and High School.
Fatuma Irshat, one of the mothers, expressed her gratitude, stating, We believe that we have a sacred obligation to teach the principles of our faith to our children without being undermined by the schools. We are grateful to First Liberty for helping us and to the school for recognizing the importance of our faith.
Hodan Hassan, another parent, added, We came to America because of its rich heritage of protecting religious liberty and the opportunity to raise our children in a place where they have access to success. We were shocked that our children were being taught material that violates our beliefs, but were grateful that the school has granted our opt-out requests.
Login