UMLC brief argues public schools cannot force teachers to violate religious beliefs on gender identity and parental secrecy
The Upper Midwest Law Center filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of UMLC, Moms for Liberty, True North Legal, and Minnesota Partnership for Achievement in support of petitioner Kimberly Ann Polk in Polk v. Montgomery County Public Schools.
The case asks whether a public school district can require a substitute first grade teacher to use pronouns that conflict with her sincerely held religious beliefs, including in situations where a child’s parents may not know or consent to a social gender transition at school.
Polk, a Christian teacher, alleges that Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland forced her to choose between keeping her job and violating her religious convictions. UMLC’s brief urges the Supreme Court to grant review and make clear that public schools cannot impose ideological conformity on teachers at the expense of First Amendment religious liberty.
“This case goes to the heart of the First Amendment,” said Doug Seaton, President and Founder of the Upper Midwest Law Center. “Government schools cannot force teachers to speak in ways that violate deeply held religious beliefs and then pretend that no constitutional problem exists. Religious liberty does not stop at the schoolhouse door.”
The brief argues that Polk’s beliefs about sex and gender are not fringe or newly invented, but consistent with the historic and still predominant views of many major religious traditions. UMLC also argues that Montgomery County’s policy is not neutral toward religious belief and is unconstitutional under multiple Supreme Court Free Exercise precedents, including Wisconsin v. Yoder and the Court’s recent decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor.
“This case is about compelled speech, religious conscience, and parental rights,” said Brent Robbins, Counsel for Religious Liberty at UMLC. “Montgomery County’s policy demands affirmation, allows no meaningful religious accommodation, and puts teachers like Kimberly Polk in an impossible position. The Supreme Court should take this case and reaffirm that the government may not punish people of faith for refusing to abandon their beliefs.”
The brief (linked here) asks the Court to grant the petition for writ of certiorari and clarify the constitutional protections that apply when public school policies burden historic and fundamental religious beliefs.