Mahmoud v. Taylor Supreme Court Case
On January 17, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case brought by a group of parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, who sued the school district for the right to opt their children out of using certain books in school they argue are against their religious beliefs.
With the backdrop of broad educational censorship affecting public schools nationwide, PEN America sees this as deeply related to the widespread banning of books with LGBTQ+ identities and stories. In the last school year, PEN America demonstrated that 39% of unique titles banned two or more times contained some form of LGBTQ+ representation. Read PEN America’s press release on the case
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. The authors and illustrators of books central to the forthcoming Supreme Court case have a statement about their books that PEN America shares below.
Statement by authors and illustrators of books in Supreme Court case Mahmoud v. Taylor
February 19, 2025
On January 17, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that it will hear Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case brought by a group of parents from Montgomery County, Maryland, against the Board of Education for the County school district. The case revolves around the district’s decision to include certain books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes in the elementary school curriculum. The parents argue that their religious rights are being violated by not being able to opt their children out of class when such books are to be used. We, as authors and illustrators of the books, strongly support the school district and its decision to include our books in the curriculum.
We created our books with love and care. Children and their parents need to see families like their own in books. We have all had the experience of meeting a child and their family who are delighted by our books. We have been told about children hugging our books and carrying them everywhere they go. We have heard emotional stories from adults who wish they had had our books when they were growing up. These were the books we ourselves needed when we were young.
We stand in support of the Montgomery County School District. We oppose censoring or segregating books, like ours, that feature LGBTQ+ people. All families deserve to be seen and heard. To act otherwise is harmful and sends a devastating message to students: that their lives and families are so offensive and dangerous that they can’t even be discussed in school.
Specifically targeting books about one group of families and children is discriminatory and leaves this group vulnerable to mistreatment and bullying. A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in this case would undermine teachers in their efforts to create safe, inclusive classrooms where all children learn to treat each other with respect and kindness. Research shows that representation is linked to better educational outcomes.
Every child deserves the freedom to read. The freedom to read leads to the freedom to learn. Children need to know that there are other people like them in the world, that they aren’t alone, that their hopes and fears are shared by others. And they need the freedom to read about different people with different views, from diverse ethnic backgrounds and abilities. The freedom to read means that children are free to have their own thoughts and beliefs and to make their own choices. It helps prepare them to be good citizens, to navigate and succeed in a complex and diverse world.
Our most basic duty as members of society is to respect and care for each other, no matter how similar or different we may be. Children want to see themselves in books; all children need to see many different kinds of people in books.
Sarah Brannen, author of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding
Chris Case, illustrator of Jacob’s Room to Choose
Carolyn Choi, author of IntersectionAllies: We Make Room For All
LaToya Council, author of IntersectionAllies: We Make Room For All
Daniel Haack, author of Prince & Knight
Ian Hoffman, author of Jacob’s Room to Choose
Sarah Hoffman, author of Jacob’s Room to Choose
Stevie Lewis, illustrator of Prince & Knight
Katherine Locke, author of What Are Your Words?
Julie McLaughlin, illustrator of Pride Puppy
DeShanna Neal, author of My Rainbow
Trinity Neal, author of My Rainbow
Andy Passchier, illustrator of What Are Your Words?
Jodie Patterson, author of Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope
Chelsea Johnson Rabb, author of IntersectionAllies: We Make Room For All
Ashley Seil Smith, illustrator of IntersectionAllies: We Make Room For All
Robin Stevenson, author of Pride Puppy
Charlotte Sullivan Wild, author of Love, Violet
Meet the Authors
Sarah S. Brannen
Sarah S. Brannen (she/her) is the award-winning author and/or illustrator of over two dozen books for children. She is the author of Miles Comes Home and Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, which was named one of the best 100 children’s books of the past 100 years. She illustrated the Sibert Honor book Summertime Sleepers as well as Feathers Not Just for Flying, both written by Melissa Stewart. Forthcoming books include Lolly on the Ice and Butterfly Journal. She is represented by The Chudney Agency.
Chris Case
Chris Case (he/him): Chris Case’s illustration work includes the four-book series by Sarah and Ian Hoffman that begins with Jacob’s New Dress. Outside of his work in illustration, Chris is a former classroom educator and education program director serving communities in Arizona and Oregon. For the past 13 years, Chris has lived in Vermont, and worked in state government leading public policy initiatives in education and statewide early childhood systems.
LaToya Council
LaToya Council (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology with affiliations in Africana Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Lehigh University. She is the author of the critically acclaimed children’s books IntersectionAllies: We Make Room for All and Love Without Bounds: An IntersectionAllies Book about Families. LaToya’s children’s books have been featured or reviewed in well-established outlets including Literary Hub, Publishers Weekly, and TIME.
Daniel Haack
Daniel Haack (he/him) is the author of Prince & Knight and its sequel Prince & Knight: Tale of the Shadow King and the co-author of Maiden & Princess. Prince & Knight was an ALA Rainbow List Top Ten book, a Goodreads Choice Awards nominee, and was named one of the best children’s books of 2018 by Amazon, Kirkus Reviews and the Chicago Tribune. He is a Daytime Emmy Award winner for his work in children’s television and was a Saul Zaentz Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and a Park Scholar at Ithaca College. A former farm boy from Wisconsin, Daniel now resides in Los Angeles. He is represented by Brent Taylor at Triada US Literary Agency.
Sarah and Ian Hoffman
Sarah and Ian Hoffman are the authors of Jacob’s New Dress, Jacob’s Room to Choose, Jacob’s School Play: Starring He, She, and They!, and Jacob’s Missing Book. Their books have won numerous awards, including the #72 spot on the ALA’s list of the Top 100 Most Banned Books of the Decade. As business partners and spouses, Sarah (she/her) and Ian (he/him) have been working together on building a better world for over 25 years. They are represented by East West Literary Agency.
Stevie Lewis
Stevie Lewis (she/her) is an illustrator of over 30 children’s books. She enjoys painting, hiking and climbing outdoors, and spending time with her husband and dog. Her most recent works include The Queen of Chess by Lauri Hallmark, and How to Eat in Space by Helen Taylor.
Katherine Locke
Katherine Locke (they/them) lives and writes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the author of the critically-acclaimed This Rebel Heart, The Girl with the Red Balloon, a 2018 Sydney Taylor Honor Book and 2018 Carolyn W. Field Honor Book, as well as The Spy with the Red Balloon. They are the co-editor and contributor to This is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them and Us, which had three starred reviews and made Kirkus Review’s Best Middle Grade of 2021 list, as well as It’s A Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes and Other Jewish Stories. They also contributed to Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens and Out Now: Queer We Go Again. They are the author of picture books Bedtime for Superheroes, What Are Your Words? A Book About Pronouns, and Being Friends with Dragons. Katherine is represented by Lara Perkins at Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
Julie McLaughlin
Julie McLaughlin (she/her) is a freelance illustrator whose work has been commissioned by editorial, advertising, and publishing clients from around the world. She has illustrated over 70 book covers and 15 children’s titles for clients such as Harper Collins, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, OwlKids and Orca. Her work has received several awards including the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction in 2015, and, most recently, the Victoria Book Prize and The Nature Generation Green Earth Book Award in 2023. Julie grew up on the Prairies and now resides on Vancouver Island.
DeShanna Neal
DeShanna Neal (she/they) is a mother of four, an activist for social justice reform, and an author. They have recently become the first non-binary elected official in Delaware. DeShanna and their oldest child, Trinity, became public figures back in 2016 after news about their battle with Medicaid to cover Trinity’s gender affirming care got around. They are responsible for the creation of Nemours pediatric gender clinic, New Castle County’s LGBTQ Youth Pride Day, and Delaware’s first ever Drag Queen Story Hour.
Prior to running for office last November, DeShanna finished their Masters in Applied Family Science at Wilmington University and became a Certified Family Life Educator. They also founded their Delaware based nonprofit, Intersections of Pride Foundation, which works to bridge the gaps faced by the LGBTQ community in our society. Together with their daughter, Trinity, they also wrote a children’s picture book My Rainbow which has been banned in several states.
Now, DeShanna goes by a new title; Representative DeShanna Neal. They represent the 13th District and continues their advocacy on a state legislative platform.
Trinity Neal
Trinity Neal (she/her): Known as Delaware’s first transgender minor to have gender affirming care covered by Medicaid, Trinity has been featured in documentaries, Essence, National Geographics, and a host of other publications. She has a historical exhibit in Delaware’s history museum and has inspired a better understanding of what it means to be Black, transgender, and autistic. She is currently a college Sophomore, majoring in Video game art and design. She’s a great big sister to three younger siblings and loves all animals.
Andy Passchier
Andy Passchier (they/them) has illustrated several children’s books focusing on identity and the LGBTQIA+ community, including Being You and Together from the popular First Conversations series by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli, and What Are You Words? by Katherine Locke.
They wrote and illustrated Gender Identity For Kids, a middle grade chapter book explaining the basics of gender identity to kids, caregivers, and teachers alike, published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The book was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in 2024.
They are represented by The Bright Agency.
Jodie Patterson
Jodie Patterson (she/her) is an award winning author, public speaker, advocate, and entrepreneur. In 2019, she became the first Black person elected to the role of Chair of the Human Rights Campaign Board, America’s largest LGBT organization. Jodie served as Director of PR for fashion designer Zac Posen and was the Fashion Director of Sales for the groundbreaking, urban publication, Vibe magazine. She also ran her own boutique PR agency, working closely with formidable brands like Nike, Virgin Records, Sean John, and Lincoln Center.
Jodie’s first book, The Bold World: A Memoir of Family and Transformation, was hailed by Alice Walker as “Marvelous.” Her second book, Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope, has won several awards and was gifted to all public schools in the state of Kansas. The picture book was inspired by Jodie’s child’s pronouncement at the age of three, “Mama, I’m not a girl, I am a boy” as well as Jodie’s transformation into an unapologetic LGBTQAI advocate. Jodie lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she co-parents her five children with love, education, and family solidarity.
Chelsea Johnson Rabb
Chelsea Johnson Rabb, PhD., (she/her) is the co-founder of a public sociology organization, CLC Collective. Her children’s books IntersectionAllies: We Make Room For All and Love without Bounds: An IntersectionAllies Book about Families have been featured by Google Talks, Lisa Ling, The New York Times’ WireCutter, Katie Couric, The Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and more.
Ashley Seil Smith
Ashley Seil Smith (she/her) is a freelance illustrator, printmaker and painter with a background in cultural anthropology. She has illustrated two childrens books written by a public sociology organization, CLC Collective. IntersectionAllies: We Make Room For All and Love without Bounds: An IntersectionAllies Book about Families have been featured by Google Talks, Lisa Ling, The New York Times’ WireCutter, Katie Couric, The Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and more. She has contributed images and covers to a number of books published by Chronicle, Harper Collins, Shambhala Publications, and more. Her editorial clients include The New York Time, The Atlantic, Wired, GQ, Forbes, UK Financial Times. In addition to her editorial portfolio she also does commercial work for companies such as Google, Netflix, Amazon, Clinique, and Saks 5th Avenue, among others. Ashley holds an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from the School of Visual Arts and splits time between Brooklyn, NY and Salt Lake City, UT. When not creating art she enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband, toddler, and their menagerie of adopted dogs and cats.
Robin Stevenson
Robin Stevenson (she/her) is the award winning author of more than thirty books of fiction and non-fiction for young readers of all ages. Her books have won the Silver Birch Award, the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, and a Stonewall Honor, and been finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the Lambda Literary Awards, four BC Book Prizes, and numerous other awards. Robin was the 2023 recipient of the BC Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence. She lives on the west coast of Canada.
Charlotte Sullivan Wild
Charlotte Sullivan Wild (she/her) is the author of several picture books. Love, Violet, illustrated by Charlene Chua, is a Stonewall Book Award winner, Charlotte Huck Honor Book, Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and Bookstagang’s Best of 2022 winner for Future Classics and Community Favorites. The Amazing Idea of You was illustrated by Mary Lundquist. Before becoming chronically ill with ME/CFS and POTS, she worked as an educator, bookseller, volunteer radio host, and creator of children’s literature events. Originally from Minnesota, she now lives wherever her wife is stationed.