This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A coalition of religious parents representing the wildly disparate Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths is appealing a trial judge's ruling that lets the Montgomery County Board of Education force the LGBT ideology on their children without notice or opt-out possibilities.

"Children deserve the guidance of their parents when learning about complex issues around gender and sexuality," said Eric Baxter, a spokesman for Beckett, which has been fighting the district on behalf of the Maryland parents.

"That’s why we are asking the Fourth Circuit [Court of Appeals] to step in to protect the right of parents to guide their children’s education consistent with their religious beliefs."

The parents have asked the appeals court to step into the dispute that erupted when the school district decided to push the one-sided ideology regarding gender and sexuality on children. The policy says parents aren't notified of the indoctrination and have no option to pull their children from the teaching.

The case Mahmoud v. McKnight is over the district's decision to use storybooks that advocate pride parades, gender transitioning, and pronoun preferences for kids as young as pre-kindergarten.

Becket explained the new "inclusivity" books "were announced last fall for students in pre-K through eighth grade. However, instead of focusing on basic principles of respect and kindness, the books champion controversial ideologies around gender and sexuality. For example, one book tasks three and four-year-olds to search for images from a word list that includes 'intersex flag,' 'drag queen,' 'underwear,' 'leather,' and the name of a celebrated LGBTQ activist and sex worker."

Another explains doctors only "guess" when identifying a newborn's sex.

"The board forged ahead with its storybook mandate over the concerns of thousands of parents and its own principals," said Grace Morrison, of Kids First, an association of parents and teachers advocating for notice and opt-outs in Montgomery County schools.

"But the school board does not replace parents, who know best about how and when to introduce their elementary-age children to complex and sensitive issues around gender and sexuality."

The parents in the coalition say the new storybooks are age-inappropriate, spiritually and emotionally injurious, and in violation of their beliefs.

The Daily Signal earlier reported when U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a ruling that claimed the use of such forced ideological training was not, in fact, "indoctrination."

The report noted Maryland law requires schools to let parents opt their children out of such training, and provide advance notice, but the board is in defiance of those requirements.

Boardman, an appointee of President Joe Biden, claimed Montgomery County Public Schools had not violated parents’ right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment because, under the policy, “teachers will occasionally read one of the handful of books, lead discussions and ask questions about the characters, and respond to questions and comments in ways that encourage tolerance for different views and lifestyles.”

At the time, Eric Baxter of Becket, said, "The court’s decision is an assault on children’s right to be guided by their parents on complex and sensitive issues regarding human sexuality."

Another Becket lawyer, Will Haun, explained what is going on: "These books are in fact teaching explicit sexual orientation and gender identity issues as early as pre-k." He said instructions "require teachers to make dismissive statements about a student’s religious beliefs, to shame children who disagree, and to teach as facts things that some would not agree are facts."