A Surrey, B.C., school teacher says he is "thrilled" about a Supreme Court decision that says a school board cannot ban three children's books depicting families with same-sex parents from the classroom.

"I'm very pleased with the decision by the Supreme Court. I think it sends a really strong message to school boards across Canada," James Chamberlain told globeandmail.com Friday morning after the ruling.

He said it sends the message that teachers need to talk to and teach students about same-sex relationships to reduce incidents of homophobia in schools.

The justices ruled 7-2 Friday morning against the Surrey schoolboard's decision to ban the books from kindergarten and Grade 1 classes simply because they had raised the ire of religious parents.

"It failed to consider the curriculum's goal that children at the K-1 level be able to discuss their family models, and that all children be made aware of the diversity of family models in our society," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said.

The two dissenting judges objected strongly to the notion that religious parents have been relegated to the sidelines in the name of tolerance.

"Tolerance ought not be employed as a cloak for the means of obliterating disagreement," Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache and Mr. Justice Charles Gonthier said. "The religiously informed conscience should not be placed at a public disadvantage or disqualification."

The dissenting judges said that courts should not simply usurp the role of school boards that have been democratically elected by parents to represent their views.

They said the Surrey board struck a careful balance between the concerns of religious parents and the beliefs of parents who wanted children in the older grades to be exposed to material involving same-sex parents.

The ruling was made based on a challenge by Mr. Chamberlain to an edict banning three books from his classroom in 1997.

Mr. Chamberlain had tried to introduce the books to his kindergarten and Grade 1 students in 1996.

He said he chose the books — Asha's Mums, Belinda's Bouquet, and One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dads, Blue Dads — because they were "the most innocuous, the most innocent and the most age-appropriate for me to teach."

Mr. Chamberlain, who is teaching kindergarten this year, said that a variety of family models need to be talked about in kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms.

Trustees of the school board in Surrey declared the material inappropriate for that age of students. They said the books could be placed in the school library but not in classrooms.

A trial judge sided with Mr. Chamberlain in 1998, saying the board had no power to impose a ban. But the ruling was a narrow one that did not address constitutional issues.

The B.C. Court of Appeal reversed the judgment in 2000. It said the books could be banned as classroom learning resources but be available in the school library.

Mr. Chamberlain's lawyer had argued that the books are a supremely inoffensive attempt to convey the idea that it doesn't matter whether a child has two fathers or two mothers as long as their home is a loving one.

Mr. Chamberlain also maintained that the move violated equality and anti-discrimination provisions in the Charter of Rights.

On Friday, he said "I'm interested to see what happens next in Surrey. The ball is clearly back in the school board's court."

Later Friday, the school board said it would follow the directions of the court to review the approval of the books. But board members said they were pleased the court acknowledged that parents' religious beliefs should be taken into account.

Mr. Chamberlain told globeandmail.com that he will not bring the books into the classroom until he speaks with his union and his lawyer.

The ban caused a split between gay-rights activists and parents who were religious and who view homosexuality as a sin.

The ruling was a major victory for gay rights groups and civil libertarians who supported Mr. Chamberlain in his quest to expose students to alternate family units.

John Fisher, executive director of Egale Canada, a national gay and lesbian rights group, said at a news conference Friday in Ottawa that the ruling is positive.

He said the "simple children's books" send a message that same-sex families exist in Canada.

"All are entitled to equal respect."

Not only should the books not have been banned, they should be encouraged, Mr. Fisher said.

Surrey is a religiously and culturally diverse community that includes large numbers of Roman Catholics, evangelical Protestants, Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus.

With a report from Canadian Press