MA Boy Appeals Decision Attacking His Freedom of Speech
CV NEWS FEED // A court recently upheld a middle school’s controversial decision to bar a Massachusetts boy from wearing T-shirts protesting “transgender” ideology. Attorneys filed a notice of appeal on behalf of the boy late last week.
Alliance Defending Freedom filed the initial lawsuit on behalf of Liam Morrison in May. Morrison wore a T-shirt bearing the text “There are only two genders” to school. School officials told him he had to remove it in order to return to class. Morrison instead left school that day.
Following the incident, Morrison wore another shirt that read “There are [censored] genders” in protest of the school administration’s directives. His teacher sent him to the principal’s office that day as well, where administration said he could not wear that shirt either.
ADF’s filing, L.M. v. Town of Middleborough, demands that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit reinstate Liam Morrison’s freedom to wear his shirts to Nichols Middle School, a public school in Middleborough.
ADF Legal Counsel Logan Spena said: “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.”
“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,” he added.
The court documents cite Nichols Middle School’s “unlawful adoption of an orthodoxy”, which “permits students to express viewpoints supporting [the] defendant’s view of gender identity but forbids students from expressing a contrary view.”
The document also calls attention to the school’s double standard which allows other students to wear T-shirts promoting “virtually unlimited topics.”
