WoLF Files New SCOTUS Brief Arguing Mandatory “Gender Ideology” in Schools Constitutes Establishment of State Religion
Mahmoud, et al. v. Taylor, et al: WoLF brings feminist arguments to the Supreme Court
WoLF has filed a new amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Mahmoud, et al. v. Taylor, et al. in support of parents who wish to opt their children out of instruction in gender ideology.
We pose the question: Does a public elementary school mandate that all students be exposed to gender ideology constitute a state establishment of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?
Case Background
A group of religious parents are suing the Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland for not allowing them to opt their children out of being exposed to “LGBTQ” themed storybooks as part of the school language arts curriculum. The parents are not attempting to remove the books from the school library or curriculum, only arguing that they should have the right to opt out of such materials and that the school’s denial of this violates the First Amendment right to free exercise of one’s religion.
The materials promoted by the school board feature a complete denial of science and biology. For example:
“When we’re born, people make a guess about our gender and label us ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ based on our body parts. Sometimes they’re right and sometimes they’re wrong. . . . Our body parts do not decide our gender. Our gender comes from our inside[.]”
Lower courts have ruled against the parents at multiple stages, finding insufficient evidence that the mandatory curriculum compelled families to change or violate their religious beliefs. The parents petitioned the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear their case. However, the plaintiffs’ arguments focus on their own religions and leave out many important objections to gender identity ideology — including that the ideology, besides being “inherently misogynistic, opposed to reality, and harmful in its effects,” is itself religious in nature.
WoLF Brings Feminist Arguments
WoLF has fought for years for courts to recognize that the enforcement of gender ideology by the state constitutes the establishment of a state religion — a violation of the First Amendment.
In this brief, WoLF argues that not only is gender ideology religious in nature and that mandatory exposure to it is endorsement of a religion, but also that gender ideology harms children, women, and LGB people.
Mandatory Instruction in Gender Ideology is an Unconstitutional Establishment of Religion
“These materials promote an ideology that is itself quasi religious in nature, making the mandatory exposure of children to such materials an impermissible establishment of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.” (pg. 16)
The Materials Promote a System of Belief Known as Gender Ideology
“The Materials depict scenarios that defy belief: they feature small children who know themselves to be “transgender,” children whose “gender identity” is so transient that it “changes like the weather,” untethered from the sex binary, and sex change made possible simply through love… These instructions and policy prescriptions treat the fantastical scenarios in the Materials not like pumpkins that turn into coaches or something out of Neverland, but instead as part of a belief system or “a system of ideas that aspires both to explain the world and to change it.”” (pg 17 - 18)
Gender Ideology is Religious in Nature
“There is no consistently applied legal definition of “religion” and even lay definitions of the term vary widely. But a common understanding of that term includes the idea of a set or attitudes, beliefs, and practices towards things sacred. In contrast with secular attitudes, beliefs and practices, religious attitudes, beliefs and practices often cannot be fully explained by reference to observable phenomena. Indeed, while sex is an observable characteristic based in reality, “gender identity” is wholly self-determined… The disconnect of the metaphysical “gender identity” from physical sex is akin to the religious concept of a soul.” (pg. 21-22)
“Ideologues have long treated gender ideology as a rigid orthodoxy concerning which there can be ‘no debate’ and any dissenter as an apostate, making reasoned questioning of its tenets impossible. Critics of the ideology may be tarred as hateful, bigoted, or—in the case feminist critics—trans-exclusionary radical feminists or TERFs, a term used to demean critics of the belief in gender ideology.These critics have faced job loss, deplatforming, censorship, and cancellation, punishments that have been visited disproportionately on women. The attributes of doctrinal rigidity and dogmatic intolerance of dissent are on display here, where Montgomery County unaccountably overrode its own internal guidelines, and—without explanation—refused to allow anyone to opt-out from instruction in the Materials, effectively mandating that students be indoctrinated in gender ideology.” (pg 11-12)
Public School Programs of Mandatory Student Exposure to Gender Ideology Constitute an Establishment of Religion.
“Montgomery County offered no option of nonreligious, sex-based instruction. Students who questioned the content in the Materials would only receive further indoctrination in gender ideology about the subjective and fluid nature of gender identity… There is no indication that the Materials made provision for including alternative, science-based instruction, such as that one’s sex is binary, immutable, and observed at birth. This preference for religious doctrine over secular truth is plainly at odds with Court precedent.” (pg. 30-31)
Gender Ideology Harms Children Psychologically and Physically.
“This is not a grass roots civil rights movement, but an AstroTurfed project that has been successful, generating approximately in the United States 1.2 billion dollars in 2022 for surgical procedures alone… Activists often minimize the prevalence of pediatric sex trait modification procedures and deny that such surgeries are performed on minors at all, but data from a recent analysis of insurance claims shows that in the United States between 2019 and 2023: 13,994 minors underwent sex trait modification treatments, 5,747 minors had sex trait modification surgeries; 8,579 minors received hormones and puberty blockers; and 62,682 sex change prescriptions were written for minors.” (pg. 36)
Gender Ideology Harms Women and Girls
“When government decision makers ignore the actual science and accept theoretical biology… necessary and relevant sex distinctions between men and women are denied and women and girls are disproportionately harmed by the resulting unworkable public policy.” (pg. 38)
Gender Ideology Harms Lesbians, Gay Men, and Bisexual People.
“Lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people are harmed as they are more likely to be given sex trait modifications as children… Though billed as progressive, the “born in the wrong body” narrative is homophobic and has been notably embraced by countries such as Pakistan and Iran (where homosexuality is punished by death, but “sex change” is government subsidized).” (pg. 40)
Support WoLF’s Legal Fight!
For over 10 years, WoLF has been on the forefront of this fight, pushing back both against liberal indoctrination of gender identity and conservative narratives of gender roles. We unapologetically put women and girls first!
WoLF relies on the donations of our generous supporters to continue this legal work.
Please consider donating today to support our fight in the courts!
