Justice Kavanaugh on LGBTQ Books: Parents Are Only ‘Seeking to Be Able to Walk-out So their Children Aren’t Exposed to Things that Are Contrary to their Own Beliefs’

Kavanaugh: “The country has opt-outs for all sorts of things. The county has opt-outs for all sorts of things. The other Maryland counties have opt-outs for all sorts of things. And yet, for this one thing, they change in mid-year and say no more opt-outs. I’m just not understanding feasibility.”

SCHOENFELD: “So, again, I think what’s in the record is that, with respect to these books as they were deployed in the classroom, there was high absenteeism in some schools. For example, dozens of students being opted out in, I think Mr. Baxter said the average size of an elementary school in Montgomery County is 700 students, so each grade is 125. If you have dozens of students walking out, making arrangements for their students to have adequate space and supervision and alternative instruction, I think is infeasible. And that’s —“

Kavanaugh: “But they do it for all sorts of other opt-outs.”

SCHOENFELD: “They don’t do it for all sorts of other opt-outs. There’s a limited universe of things that students can opt out from. The family life and healthy sexuality curriculum stands alone. It is mandated by the state. It is something where you are able to predict precisely when the curriculum is going to be deployed. There’s a four —“

Kavanaugh: “It’s the most similar, substantively, to what we have here and there’s an opt out allowed there. I guess I’m not understanding why Montgomery County School Board stands alone, I think in the country. You can tell me if there’s another school board that’s done something like this.”

SCHOENFELD: “I don’t — I apologize.”

Kavanaugh: “The kind of books that are being used and prohibiting opt-outs, and I guess I’m just not understanding. The whole goal, I think, of some of our religion precedents is to look for the win-win, to look for the situation where you can respect the religious beliefs and accommodate the religious beliefs while the state or city, or whatever it may be, can pursue its goals. And here they’re not asking you to change what’s taught in the classroom. They’re not asking you to change that at all. A lot of the rhetoric suggests that they might have — that they were trying to do that, but that’s not what they’re trying to do. They’re only seeking to be able to walk out so that they don’t have — so the parents don’t have their children exposed to these things that are contrary to their own beliefs.”

SCHOENFELD: “I understand, your Honor, and there may well be circumstances where a school can —“