Judge backs Christian dad seeking to opt kid out of LGBT kindergarten lessons

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, January 06, 2026

A federal judge has ruled in favor of a Christian father seeking to have his kindergarten-aged child excused from classroom lessons teaching LGBT ideology, as litigation continues.

In a Dec. 30 opinion authored by Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, the United States Court for the District of Massachusetts sided with the father, identified as “Alan L.,” in his litigation against Lexington Public Schools over its inclusion of LGBT-related material in the kindergarten curriculum.

The plaintiff, a father of a kindergarten student, alleges that the school district violated his “sincere and deeply held” religious beliefs as a “committed, practicing Christian” by exposing his child to content that directly contradicts those beliefs. 

After the concerned father discovered that Lexington Public Schools was introducing “curriculum materials addressing topics related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and family structures that conflicted with [his] religious beliefs,” he repeatedly requested that his child be opted out. He further told the school he wanted to opt his child out of any curriculum related to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as health class and “lessons, events, school assemblies or other instructional activities and programs which cover issues of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

All of his requests were denied. 

According to the ruling, the child was exposed to numerous materials that the Christian father opposed his child being exposed to, including a read-aloud video of a book titled Families, Families, Families! and the book All Are Welcome, which are designed to normalize same-sex families.

The opinion also noted that the parent had expressed concerns about eight other books in the curriculum containing similar content, warning that they would lead to “irreparable harm” to his rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

Saylor, who was appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush, granted the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction. The 2025 U.S. Supreme Court decisionMahmoud v. Taylor, which ruled that parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, had a right to excuse their children from curriculum that contradicted their deeply held beliefs, loomed large in the judge's ruling. 

“This case is controlled, almost in its entirety, by the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in Mahmoud v. Taylor,” Saylor wrote in his opinion. “Parents must be permitted to opt their children out from lessons that ‘would substantially interfere with the religious development of the child or pose a very real threat of undermining the religious beliefs and practices the parent wishes to instill in the child.’” 

Saylor determined that the plaintiff will likely “suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a preliminary injunction,” which he granted in last week’s opinion. 

“Under well-established constitutional principles, defendants cannot force plaintiff to choose between foregoing the valuable benefit of having his child attend public kindergarten and exposing his child to materials that would burden his free exercise of religion,” he added. 

Saylor’s ruling will remain in effect as litigation continues.

Liberty Counsel, a law firm focused on religious liberty cases, reacted favorably to the development. 

“This ruling reinforces that parents have the right to direct the religious upbringing of their children,” said Liberty Counsel founder and Chairman Mat Staver in a statement provided to The Christian Post on Monday.

“Forcing children to be exposed to offensive instruction that is antithetical and hostile to their parents’ religious beliefs is unconstitutional. Parents have the First Amendment right to direct the education and provide for the welfare of their children free from government coercion that conflicts with their faith,” Staver added.