A conservative law firm has threatened a Missouri school district with legal action after students were shown a video acknowledging the significance of LGBTQ+ history month.
The Thomas More Society accused the Kirkwood School District of “violating” the First Amendment rights of “many parents” by sharing the short video with students last month.
According to the organization, North Kirkwood Middle School, located in a suburb of St. Louis, showed the video “without giving parents, many of whom have deeply held religious values conflicting with the alleged norms celebrated in the video, any prior notice or opportunity to opt their children out of viewing the video,” according to a letter dated Oct.30.
The society argued the district violated the First Amendment rights under a recent Supreme Court decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which “recognized that parents’ right to direct the religious upbringing of their children...extends to the choices that parents wish to make for their children outside the home.”
The six-minute video in question was narrated by students explaining why LGBTQ+ history month is celebrated and marked every year.
“Pride is more than just a big party,” the student narrator said. “It is a huge event that celebrates people being true to themselves, and it has a powerful and important history.”
Writing in the letter, the conservative organization, which said it was acting on behalf of a group of parents called Kirkwood for Educational Integrity, described images of rainbow flags, gay pride posters and parades as “controversial.”
It also took issue with the student narrators’ description of the annual event, including the statements “Pride is about being proud of your identity,” “the Pride community today is a huge and amazing group,” and “it’s a supportive family.”
In the letter, the group demanded the school “immediately cease and desist” from sharing the video in any form “without first providing advance notice to parents and the opportunity to opt out their children from viewing such material, pursuant to parents’ First Amendment rights to direct the religious upbringing of their children.”
In a statement to The Independent, Kirkwood School District chief communications officer Steph Deidrick said the district was reviewing the letter from the Thomas More Society and would provide a timely response.
“It is always the intent of the district to be in full compliance with the law while also continuing our commitment to ensuring that every student is supported and engaged,” Deidrick added.
The legal action comes as the Trump administration told 40 states in August to eliminate parts of lessons that focus on LGBTQ+ issues from federally funded sexual education materials or that they will lose funding.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, the administration has moved to recognize people as only male or female and to eliminate what he calls “gender ideology.”
“Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance dangerous ideological agendas," Acting Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary Andrew Gradison said in a statement at the time.
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