Religious parents sue California school district for defying Supreme Court on parental rights Sunnyvale district bars notice & opt-outs for elementary sexuality lessons in defiance of recent SCOTUS precedent

WASHINGTON – Justin and Rose Taylor filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the Sunnyvale School District for denying them the right to receive notice and to opt their children out of controversial lessons and storybooks on sexuality and gender that conflict with their faith. The Supreme Court protected this right last year in Becket’s Mahmoud v. Taylor win, but Sunnyvale has refused to comply—instructing teachers to “resist pressures” to honor parental opt-out requests and dismissing Mahmoud as applying only to “another state.”

In Taylor v. Sunnyvale School District, the Taylors—represented by Becket and the Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation Religious Liberty Clinic—are asking a federal court to stop Sunnyvale from defying Mahmoud and require the district to provide notice and opt-outs the Supreme Court has already guaranteed to religious parents nationwide. Recent data from Becket’s 2025 Religious Freedom Index reveals that Americans overwhelmingly support parental opt-outs, with 73% agreeing that parents are the primary educators of their children and should be able to opt them out of curriculum they believe is morally objectionable or inappropriate.  

“Our children are the most cherished part of our lives,” said Justin and Rose Taylor, residents of Sunnyvale and parents of four young children. “We know and love them best and should be the ones deciding when and how they learn about sensitive topics regarding sexuality and gender. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has recognized that right for religious parents nationwide. We hope that Sunnyvale can choose to acknowledge and respect our role as parents to direct the moral upbringing of our children.” 

Sunnyvale has promoted curriculum that pushes contested views on gender and sexuality throughout the elementary school day. It touts guidance saying that health and science lessons should replace references to “women” with “ovaries” and teach students to view sex verification in sports as a recurring injustice. The same guidance insists that history lessons include instruction on “Two Spirit and Non-Traditional Families” that is designed to “disrupt traditional definitions of the family.” Even math lessons use problems that incorporate same-sex marriage, gender-neutral bathrooms, and other LGBTQ topics. Sunnyvale teachers are also encouraged to read students several of the same Pride storybooks at issue in Mahmoud, which celebrate pride parades, drag queens, gender transitions, and pronoun preferences for young children.

“The Constitution doesn’t come with a California carveout,” said Michael O’Brien, counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the Taylors. “Yet Sunnyvale is acting as if it does—attempting to sidestep Mahmoud and override the Taylors’ clearly protected parental rights while paying lip service to the very diversity the Taylors represent. We’re confident the federal courts will reject that approach.”

Justin and Rose Taylor are devout Christians with two young children in a Sunnyvale elementary school. Their faith teaches that God created each person male or female and that parents have a sacred duty to guide their children’s religious and moral formation. When the Taylors learned that the district was using lessons and storybooks that conflicted with those beliefs, they asked for simple notice and the ability to excuse their children from those lessons. The district initially worked with the Taylors and even sent an opt-out form listing religious objections as grounds for excusing students. But the district later reversed course and declared that its curriculum “is not optional and is not subject to parent opt-out provisions.”

The Taylors plan to file a motion for preliminary injunction against the district in the coming days. 

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Ryan Colby at [email protected] or 202-349-7219.