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‘Two genders’ T-shirt case goes in front of federal appeals court
The eighth-grader sued school officials after he was barred from wearing a "There are only two genders" shirt to school.
Lawyers for a Middleborough eighth-grader barred from wearing a “There are only two genders” T-shirt at school brought the boy’s case to federal appeals court Thursday, arguing that the school district violated his freedom of speech.
Liam Morrison, a student at Nichols Middle School, wore the shirt to school last March and was summarily removed from class after other students complained. He declined to take off the shirt and left school for the day, according to a complaint filed in May.
Later, in protest, Morrison wore a shirt reading “There are censored genders.” He was again sent to the principal’s office but agreed to wear another shirt for the rest of the day.
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In donning the “only two genders” shirt, Morrison offered a rebuttal to the school’s outspoken views on Pride Month and gender expression, explained David A. Cortman, senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation for the conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom.
“His T-shirt did not target any individual,” Cortman told the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals on Morrison’s behalf. “It merely addressed the same subject matter the school had already raised, but a different point of view.”
He argued that the situation should have been an educational opportunity for the school.
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“Rather than [making] it a teaching moment and having a conversation with all the students, they decided to censor him,” Cortman said. “But what the school cannot do — even though they could share their own views — is decide that only students who agree with those views can speak, but anyone who disagrees should be silenced. And that’s exactly what they did here.”
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Yet Deborah Ecker, a lawyer for the school district, asserted that the school’s message of inclusivity and equality is consistent with federal law.
“Characterizing the statement that there are only two genders as being merely offensive trivilizes the significant harm that could occur to nonbinary students who are captive in this classroom, looking at it,” Ecker said.
She said school officials made the decision to bar Morrison from wearing his shirt because they believed it would cause disruption and invade other students’ rights.
The judges referenced the threatening messages and protests the school faced following the controversy over Morrison’s shirt, also noting the potential mental health impacts for LGBTQ+ students in Middleborough.
“The protests were protests and counterprotests. … There were both sides complaining,” Cortman contended. “So my point is, it’s not justified [for] the school to say, ‘Look, there’s disruption going on on this entire issue, but we’re only going to stop one viewpoint.’”
As for the shirt’s potential to spark suicidal ideation or self-harm risks for LGBTQ+ students, “That should never be diminished, and I don’t want to be dismissive of it, because that’s very serious, regardless of who it’s happening to,” Cortman said.
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However, he added, “there has to be a link between whatever harm you’re alleging and the specific speech in question. … There can’t be a general, ‘Well, we have a general issue with this,’ and then you silence speech.”
The federal appeals court judges took the matter under advisement.
“This isn’t just about the shirt. It’s about free speech. All students have a constitutional right to express their free speech without fear of being punished by school officials,” Liam Morrison told reporters Thursday, according to Boston 25.
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