This ‘Chilling’ Right-Wing Movement Is Taking Over Classrooms — And It’s Only The Beginning.

Across the United States, more parents are growing concerned as they witness a narrow religious ideology gaining influence over their children’s public schools.

While some argue that inclusive school curricula are threatening their religious freedom, many others are worried that one belief system is being imposed — dictating not only which books are available in classrooms but who gets to be represented in the school experience.

The battle over books, especially those centering LGBTQ+ lives and diverse identities, has become a larger conflict about who controls the definition of American childhood and which values shape that narrative.

“The question emerging in the law right now is: Which parents have rights?” Jessica Mason Pieklo, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of Rewire News Group, told HuffPost. “We’re seeing the conservative legal movement rally around a narrow vision of parental identity, control, and rights, one that doesn’t reflect or include all families.”

Education, once a shared public good, is increasingly becoming a battleground. And at the center of it is a Supreme Court case that could have far-reaching consequences: Mahmoud v. Taylor, which challenged the inclusion of LGBTQ+ books in a Maryland school district.

In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court blocked a Maryland school district’s LGBTQ+-inclusive curriculum, ruling it posed a “very real threat” to the religious beliefs of some parents and supporting their right to opt their children out of such instruction.

While the ruling doesn’t impose a nationwide ban, it opens the door for local challenges that can limit educators’ ability to provide diverse and inclusive education. For parents, this means the fight is about whose voices are heard in their communities.

“This isn’t a book ban case,” explains Kelly Jensen, award-winning author and editor at Book Riot. “It’s a case about education and religious rights. None of the books are being banned or pulled from curricula. The real issue is the chilling effect.”

Teachers, already working under immense pressure, may now think twice before including LGBTQ+ books in classrooms, even if those books are age-appropriate and affirming. “The silent erasure of books, disappearing from…