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Massachusetts boy asks court to halt school’s ban on ‘There are only two genders’ shirt
BOSTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represented a Massachusetts seventh-grade student in court today 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.”
The 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 are requesting 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 today’s 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.”
The court’s decision will come at a later date.
“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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Fed Up
June 13, 2023 at 8:21 pm
Faulty logic on Mason Dunns part. We do not define or lose our rights by virtue of how an activity can be abused or misused. The mere fact and organization can defame someone of can commit fraud or can commit some form of theft or do something else improper like commit libel or slander does not mean you and I lose any of our rights to free speech or First Amendment rights. Same with criminals misusing firearms.
Frances
June 13, 2023 at 8:59 pm
He was using the shirt to tell kids who don’t fit into his white, cisgender, hetero orthodoxy that they don’t exist. And doing so from a position of social power – a white, cis, hetero male person. At the very least that qualifies as bullying, if not overt hate speech. One would hope his parents would teach him better values about how to treat others, especially people who are different, but one would also guess they bought him that shirt.
HuntersCrackPipe
June 15, 2023 at 9:51 pm
Look in the mirror fool.
Boogie Man
June 13, 2023 at 9:26 pm
Sad to see crazy parents using their child as a pawn. I would say the same if it were some trans kid. This poor kid is going to be ostracized by his peers. Tragic.
David
June 13, 2023 at 10:02 pm
If “students don’t give up their free speech when they walk into the school building” and offensiveness is not an issue, then the other students should be permitted to wear shirts saying, “Liam is a little $#1+”
Double standards
June 13, 2023 at 10:55 pm
Wear “I ❤️ Dylan Mulchaney” and they’d want to give him a trophy. Keep up the fight.
Kfurtado
June 14, 2023 at 5:15 am
See him as someone who is not afraid to stand up against this force fed leftist malarkey.
Ken Masson
June 14, 2023 at 10:07 am
Sorry hate speech and bullying doesn’t belong in school.
Same as yelling fire in a crowded theater when there isn’t any. There’s a limit to anything in the Constitution. Even Justice Anthony Scalia said there’s limits to the second amendment. The same applies to the First amendment.
People indoctrinate their children into religion at birth and some families even indoctrinate their kids with hate from birth. Sad
Boy have a penis and girls have a vagina
June 14, 2023 at 10:59 am
Stating a biologic fact is not hate speech. And irony alert indoctrination? No self awareness what so ever.
Lynne
June 22, 2023 at 2:01 pm
This child’s parents should be hauled into court for child abuse. They are using their son as a prop. They bought him the shirt to advertise their hateful perspective. Hey parents, let the kid be a kid and stop using your own child to advertise your adult views. Who cares what you think, anyway? You should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re making a spectacle of your own child.
Lynne Sarine
June 22, 2023 at 2:02 pm
This child’s parents should be hauled into court for child abuse. They are using their son as a prop. They bought him the shirt to advertise their hateful perspective. Hey parents, let the kid be a kid and stop using your own child to advertise your adult views. Who cares what you think, anyway? You should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re making a spectacle of your own child.