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Middleborough student banned from wearing ‘there are only two genders’ shirt appeals ruling against him
In March, a student at Nichols Middle School was told to remove the shirt by school leaders. He later sued Middleborough officials.
Lawyers representing a Middleborough middle school student who said he was forbidden from wearing a shirt that said “there are only two genders” on it filed an appeal last week after a judge ruled against them.
Liam Morrison, a student at Nichols Middle School, wore the shirt to school in March. He was taken out of his first class of the day and told by the acting principal that he could not wear the shirt because other students had complained. Morrison refused, and school officials called his father. Morrison was picked up and missed classes for the rest of the day, according to a complaint filed in May.
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The lawsuit was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom and the Massachusetts Family Institute on behalf of Morrison. ADF describes itself as “the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.”
Morrison, according to the complaint, believes that there are only two sexes and equates the word “gender” with “sex.” He believes that views promoted by school figures that do not align with these ideas on gender and sex are “false and harmful.”
Morrison’s father sent an email to Middleborough Superintendent Carolyn Lyons in early April asking why his son was not allowed to wear the shirt in school. Lyons defended the principal’s decision.
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“The content of [L.M.’s] shirt targeted students of a protected class; namely in the area of gender identity. While I cannot share the numbers or names of students and staff that complained about this shirt, I can assure you that there were several students and several staff who did,” Lyons responded, according to the complaint.
Morrison spoke at a Middleborough School Committee meeting later in April, defending his right to wear the shirt. His lawyers reached out to those representing the defendants, telling them that Morrison was going to wear the shirt again on May 5, according to the complaint.
In a letter sent May 4, lawyers representing Middleborough school officials responded by saying that the district would continue to “prohibit the wearing of a t-shirt… which is likely to be considered discriminatory, harassing and/or bullying to others including those who are gender nonconforming by suggesting that their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression does not exist or is invalid,” according to the complaint.
Instead, Morrison wore a shirt with the words “there are censored genders” on May 5 instead. He was sent to the principal’s office and agreed to wear a different shirt for the rest of the day, according to the complaint.
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He has not worn either shirt since May out of fear of detention and possible suspension, according to the complaint. This fear of punishment “severely limits his constitutionally-protected expression” at school, his lawyers wrote.
Logan Spena, legal counsel for ADF, said that school officials are violating Morrison’s right to freedom of speech.
“This isn’t about a T-shirt; this is about a public school telling a middle-schooler that he isn’t allowed to express a view that differs from the school’s orthodoxy,” Spena said in a statement. “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 1st Circuit to rectify.”
Lawyers representing Morrison equated his shirts with signs that have been displayed in school buildings with messages like “Rise up to protect trans and GNC students” and “Proud friend/ally of LGBTQ+.”
The defendants did not dispute that the shirt may be constitutionally protected speech, according to court documents. But they asserted that the restriction of the shirt was justified because the administration received complaints from students and staff, and because the shirt “invaded on the rights of trans and gender non-conforming students, who are a protected class under Massachusetts law.”
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Judge Indira Talwani ruled against Morrison and his lawyers in June.
“School administrators were well within their discretion to conclude that the statement ‘there are only two genders’ may communicate that only two gender identities–male and female–are valid, and any others are invalid or nonexistent, and to conclude that students who identify differently, whether they do so openly or not, have a right to attend school without being confronted by messages attacking their identities,” she wrote in the ruling.
Talwani Ruling by Ross Cristantiello on Scribd
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