Muslim, Christian and Jewish parents showed up outside of the Montgomery County Public School Board of Education meeting Tuesday to protest the district’s decision to bar parents from opting their child out of reading books about gender ideology and LGBT issues, according to footage of the event.
Parents have been making waves about the decision since March, and several Christian and Muslim parents even filed a lawsuit in May after the board refused to back down. The protest Tuesday took place outside of the board’s scheduled meeting and dozens of parents of multiple faiths showed up to condemn the decision, according to ABC 7. (RELATED: Religious Parents File Lawsuit Over School Board Forcing Students To Attend Pride Storybook Time)
“A man, a devout Muslim, Christian, Jewish man, Hindu man cannot have the same love that they feel, [because of the] … love that they feel for God,” a woman yelled to the crowd of protestors. “They do not understand the love we have for God!”
Muslim, Christian and Jewish parent protestors advocate for the right to opt-out their children from LGBTQ curriculum outside @MCPS board meeting:
“They do not understand the love we have for God.” pic.twitter.com/EW8baiZROd
— elise mccue (@EliseMcCue) June 27, 2023
The crowd began chanting “We love God” and another video of the protest showed parents shouting “What do we want … opt out! When do we want it … Now!” The female speaker told a cheering crowd at one point, “You will not be silenced.”
The board approved a new curriculum during the fall 2022 semester with books on pride parades, pronouns, gender transitioning and drag queens. Some of the new books included “Pride Puppy,” for kids age 3 and 4 that encourages them to find “drag queen,” underwear” and “leather” in a word list and “Born Ready,” which pushes the idea that “a child-knows-best” when discussing “gender transitioning,” according to the lawsuit filed by several parents.
“What do we want? Opt-out”
“When do we want it? NOW”
I’ve never seen anything like this in Montgomery County—Ethiopian-led protest demanding our insane Board of Education allow them to opt out of far left indoctrination
Organizers estimate 1,000 people are here pic.twitter.com/pxHiBmHZaj
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) June 27, 2023
“When we are born, people make a guess about our gender and label us ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ based on our body parts,” reads a presentation to go along with “Born Ready.” “Sometimes they’re right, and sometimes they’re wrong. Our body parts do not decide our gender. Our gender comes from inside—we might feel different than what people tell us we are. We know ourselves best.”
In March, parents were informed that they were no longer allowed to opt their children out from reading the books, sparking weeks of protests, particularly from religious families. Many parents worried that the material was “too heavy” for young children and protest organizers said that parents refuse to ” co-parent with the government.”
The board’s agenda for Tuesday’s meeting included a public comments section where two dozen individuals were slated to speak, with multiple individuals criticizing the board for taking away the religious rights of parents and forcing gender ideology into the classroom.
MCPS did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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