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Lawyer: Court denies Massachusetts boy ability to wear certain t-shirts to school, will appeal
BOSTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Massachusetts seventh-grade student who wasn’t allowed to wear two t-shirts to school—one that reads “There are only two genders” and one that reads “There are censored genders”- suffered a setback in court.
Earlier this month, a hearing took place at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston and involved a motion for a preliminary injunction, in which ADF attorneys requested that the court prevent Nichols Middle School in Middleborough from prohibiting Liam Morrison from wearing his shirts to school while the case proceeds.
Logan Spena, legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom made the following statement after the proceedings. “Students don’t give up their free speech when they walk into the school building, and we hope the court will recognize that and allow Liam to wear his shirt for the rest of the school year. Today’s hearing went well, and we are hopeful the First Amendment’s full protection will be extended to Liam, not just for his sake, but for all students.”
According to ATF, this week the court ruled against Morrison.
“We’re disappointed that a federal district court in MA has denied Liam Morrison the opportunity to exercise his free speech by wearing his shirt to school. Public school officials cannot censor a 7th grader’s free speech by forcing him to remove a shirt that responds to the school’s messages about sex and gender. This is a gross violation of the First Amendment. We will appeal this ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.”
“This isn’t about a T-shirt; this is about a public school telling a seventh grader that he isn’t allowed to hold a view that differs from the school’s orthodoxy,” said Spena. “Public school officials can’t force Liam to remove a shirt that states his position when the school lets every other student wear clothing that speaks on the same issue. Their choice to double down and silence him when he tried to protest their censorship is a gross violation of the First Amendment that we’re urging the court to rectify.”
Attorneys with ADF and Massachusetts Family Institute filed a lawsuit last month on behalf of Morrison.
In March, Morrison wore the “There are only two genders” t-shirt. The principal of the school, along with a school counselor, pulled Morrison out of class and ordered him to remove his shirt. After Morrison declined, school officials said that he must remove the shirt to return to class. As a result, Morrison left school and missed the rest of his classes that day.
In early May, Morrison wore a shirt that reads “There are censored genders” in protest. When Morrison arrived at school, his teacher instructed him to go to the principal’s office where he was told that he could not wear that shirt at school.
In the case, L.M. v. Town of Middleborough, ADF attorneys say that Middleborough school officials have adopted one particular view on the subject of sex and gender. ADF attorneys believe that school officials’ censorship of Morrison’s message violates the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
According to NBC10 Boston, transgender rights activist Mason Dunn stated that a pride flag and a shirt denying gender identity are not comparable as the shirt could incite violence. “Messages of pride are messages of support, messages of affirmation, not messages of hate or bias,” Dunn said.
School officials and the town have yet to comment on the incidents or the lawsuit.
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1984
June 24, 2023 at 11:47 am
Wrong speak. When stating a biological fact is ” hate or bias ” you know you’re living in clown world.
HuntersCrackPipe
June 24, 2023 at 1:26 pm
Welcome to the New World Order. Maybe he should have his statement tattooed on his forehead. Then what? Got any CRACK?
David
June 24, 2023 at 1:19 pm
All the rest of the students must be permitted to wear t-shirts that read, “Liam is a little $#1+.”
Fed Up
June 24, 2023 at 1:51 pm
False equivocation. One is a scientific provable fact and the other is an opinion.
Dr. David
June 24, 2023 at 2:08 pm
The rest of the students and everyone else agrees with Liam .. they just will not say it.
Even the LBGTzxQ hate themselves … they realize how depraved they are … they know somehow the dark spirit got it and it will not let go
fred
June 25, 2023 at 12:45 pm
Doubtful they would. But your comment could definitely incite violence and that is not what is wanted.
Free speech for all
June 24, 2023 at 1:31 pm
This kid is going to be a lawyer when he grows up. I can see why. I don’t blame him at all. Keep it up! Rights are rights are rights.
Ken Masson
June 24, 2023 at 2:06 pm
Hey it’s all the Dunning-Kruger geniuses who haven’t done any research or read any scientific papers on gender identity but think they’re experts. I’m sure all of these clueless people don’t know that this goes on even in the animal world and the only difference between us and the rest of the animals is we are self-aware and highly intelligent but from the examples above we would never know that. But again they all post anonymously because they don’t want their friends and family to know how ignorant they are!
https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/transgender-people-gender-identity-gender-expression
Fed Up
June 24, 2023 at 3:53 pm
Citing ” scientific papers ” in this day and age is USELESS. Especially soft sciences because the gender ideologues have long highjacked academia and taken over. The inmates are literally running the asylum. Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay have exposed what ” peer reviewed ” scientific literature gets published what doesn’t. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlqU_JMTzd4&list=LL&index=52 They’re as honest and trustworthy as legacy media.
Kioj
June 25, 2023 at 9:04 am
I probably agree with about 80% of what this kid’s parents believe politically but making a pariah out of a child is wrong.
This kid’s going to be ostracized and these stories are going to follow him for the rest of his life. Watch him be a radical trans in ten years.
Let kids be kids.
hjyu
June 25, 2023 at 9:07 am
school uniforms would probably save the town a lot of headaches and the taxpayers there a lot of legal bills. Uniforms would also deprive this kid’s moronic parents, even if they’re right about two genders, from ruining their kid’s life.
fred
June 25, 2023 at 12:59 pm
He definitely won’t be ostracized because of this.
Alan
June 25, 2023 at 9:34 pm
We now live in a world of double standards! Pushing for one party and one opinion. We will be a Russia or China under this administration both state and federal. God save the republic.
HuntersCrackPipe
June 25, 2023 at 11:06 pm
Meanwhile the Biden Crime Family is selling out America to her enemies while all of you sheep argue over a T-Shirt. Get your heads out of your fat asses and take a stand for the First Amendment. Who really cares what a bunch of green, blue and purple haired misfits want for our Republic. It’s non-stop democracy being dribbled from the mouths of these troglodytes. Democracy is mob rule. Long live the highly diverse Republic. Got any Crack?