Opinion Rejects Free Exercise Challenge To Teaching Children Respect For Gay Couples

Lexis has now made available the court's opinion in Parker v. Hurley, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12751 (D MA, Feb. 23, 2007), a case that rejects Free Exercise, privacy and substantive due process claims by parents who were opposed to a Lexington, Massachusetts school's use in kindergarten of books that portray homosexual couples in a positive manner. (See prior posting.) Parents who sued believed that homosexuality is immoral. Following First Circuit precedent, the court held that "the constitutional right of parents to raise their children does not include the right to restrict what a public school may teach their children and that teachings which contradict a parent's religious beliefs do not violate their First Amendment right to exercise their religion." The court found that schools have a reasonable basis for teaching young children to respect differences in sexual orientation.