Muslim dad says lack of gender ideology opt-out in Maryland schools holds religious students ‘hostage’
Coalition of Virtue co-founder Kareem Monib says schools needs to go back to a focus on rigorous academics.
A Muslim father in Maryland says Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is holding religious students "hostage" by refusing to allow parents to opt children out of controversial content related to gender.
Kareem Monib, 45, is the father of four sons and has lived in Maryland for 20 years. In March, he became actively involved in the local community after the Maryland House of Delegates voted to use state funding for "gender-affirming treatments," a term that Monib described as "gender-mutilating surgery."
"I was following that, and I was very concerned about what was happening in the country on this issue and the spread of gender ideology and the impact that that was having on kids," he said.
One month later, he co-founded a new organization, the Coalition of Virtue, alongside his wife and friends. The organization of American Muslims works strategically with members of other faith communities to "promote virtue in society," grounded in Islamic tradition.
A group of Montgomery County parents gather outside MCPS Board of Education to protest a policy that doesn't allow students to opt-out of lessons on gender and LGBTQ+ issues during the school board meeting in Maryland, United States on July 20, 2023. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
In June, Monib co-organized an interfaith rally for 250 Muslim, Jewish and Christian parents in front of the Montgomery County school board advocating for the right to opt children out of curriculum on gender and sexuality.
Schools in Maryland must provide parents or guardians the opportunity to view all instructional materials before use. Parents or guardians may remove their children from any or all "Family Life and Human Sexuality" classes. However, this opt-out policy in Montgomery County no longer extends to other classes where LGBTQ content may crop up.
Monib said such an extension is a "small ask" by parents.
The movement by parents has been met with considerable backlash. Earlier this year, a local Montgomery County city councilwoman, Kristin Mink, accused some Muslim parents of working with "White supremacists." Kareem rejects that label.
Her comments came after the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the American conservative political organization Moms for Liberty as a hate group. Moms for Liberty has advocated against discussions on gender ideology and critical race theory in districts nationwide, including Montgomery County.
Councilmember Mink did not return a request for comment.
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Kareem Monib, 45, is the father of four sons and has lived in Maryland for 20 years. He is the co-founder of the Coalition of Virtue. (Fox News Digital )
Monib said comments from local officials about parents are tantamount to a "smear campaign."
"What I tell Muslims is that there was a time [in the not] far-distant past where Muslim organizations were being labeled as hate groups or even terrorist groups, unjustly and unfairly. And so I say it's morally wrong for us to just accept, you know, these kinds of labels," he said.
Monib said that associating parents with White supremacists is "ridiculous," noting most people at local rallies are Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Christians of many skin colors.
"It's that argument just falls flat on its face. And I'm surprised that they attempted to use it. But it tells me that they had no other tactic to use," he added.
Despite tension with the school board and officials, Monib said that people across different faiths had become friends and reaped huge benefits from the companionship.
"One thing I've learned from this is that if people of faith do get together, it's actually quite easy, and it's quite powerful, and it's something that I think should have been done a long time ago," he said.
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Sarah Aljerjawi, 37, center, of Germantown participates in the protest. She has four children in Montgomery County Public Schools. A large group of parents protested in Rockville, Maryland on June 27, 2003, in an effort to opt out of books that feature LGBTQ characters in Montgomery County schools. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is currently arguing a case on behalf of several Muslim and Christian families to reinstate the opt-out. Recently, a federal judge denied the legal team's temporary injunction to put the opt-out back in place. It's now pushing for an emergency temporary injunction, another avenue of legal recourse.
An amicus brief written by various legal and religious scholars criticized the federal judge's decision, claiming parents have a broad right to direct the religious upbringing of their children and the MCPS policy is an "indirect coercion" and a burden on free exercise.
MCPS Communications Director Christopher Cram told Fox News Digital that the district "cannot accommodate requests for exemptions from required curricular instruction or the use of curricular instructional materials based on religious, and/or other, objections."
While Maryland law permits students and families to opt out of "Family Life and Human Sexuality Unit of Instruction," he said this does not extend to other curriculum, such as the English Language Arts Curriculum.
"In alignment with Board of Education Policy, MCPS has a responsibility to include instructional materials that reflect the diversity of the local and global community by exploring the aspirations, issues, and achievements of men and women, people with disabilities, people from diverse racial, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds, as well as those of diverse gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation," Cram added.
Monib said their position holds religious students "hostage for the sake of other kids in total defiance of their First Amendment rights."
He also noted that many religions, including Islam, depend on the idea of male and female for marriage laws, inheritance laws, prayer and more.
"Ninety percent of our religious law, our sacred law, depends on a normative understanding of two sexes," Monib said. "So, when you teach our kids that there is no such thing as two sexes, they can't understand anything, their religion, it doesn't make any sense to them. So, it is a clear indoctrination."
A group of Montgomery County parents gather outside MCPS Board of Education to protest a policy that doesn't allow students to opt-out of lessons on gender and LGBTQ+ issues during the school board meeting in Maryland, United States on July 20, 2023. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Monib said in addition to being against religious beliefs and practices, gender ideology also contradicts science. Many parents, he said, would like to return to a rigorous general curriculum that focuses on science, reason, logic and math.
"We don't want our kids to grow up thinking wrong. We want them to be intelligent people who can analyze data, who can contribute to science, inventions, innovation, and how is this a type of education? One which twists their minds into not even being able to observe biological facts clearly? You know that that's a catastrophe on even an academic level," he added.
While the contention in the community rages on, Monib said that parents will not simply throw their hands in the air and give up.
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The Coalition of Virtue is working with faith communities to find new candidates for the Board of Education. People who have never been politically active are starting to speak up, according to Monib. They plan to expand beyond Maryland and set up religious councils while organizing parents nationwide.
"This issue touches on the two most important things in our lives: our religion and our children. You can't name anything more important to Muslims, Catholics, Ethiopian Orthodox, Orthodox Jews, all these faith communities. There's no single issue which is more important because we're talking about the transmission of their religion to their children," he added.
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