By Greg Piper
Updated: May 21, 2023 - 11:31pm
Lawyers for a 12-year-old Massachusetts student sent home for wearing a shirt that read "There Are Only Two Genders" has filed suit against the school district and its dress code.
Middleborough Public Schools acting Principal Heather Tucker forced the child, Liam Morrison, to go home March 21 after he "politely declined" to remove his "There Are Only Two Genders" shirt, and district lawyers said May 4 the same would happen if he did so again, the complaint says.
The next day, Morrison wore a shirt that read, "There Are Censored Genders," prompting his teacher to send him to Tucker's office. He took off the shirt on the way to the office and promised Tucker he wouldn't put it on again "because he did not want to miss another day of school," according to the suit.
The suit was filed Wednesday by Alliance Defending Freedom, citing the First and Fourteenth amendments as grounds for its argument.
The conservative Christian legal advocacy group representing Morrison is asking a federal court to block the district from enforcing its dress code "facially and as-applied" to Morrison's shirts about gender and declare unconstitutional the code's prohibition on messages deemed "hate speech," "unacceptable to community standards" or that "target" specific groups.
It's seeking "actual and nominal damages" from the district and co-defendant Town of Middleborough for violating Morrison's constitutional rights and chilling his speech. He faces "escalating discipline" for wearing the shirts, "up to and including suspension."
Town Manager James McGrail told Just the News it was "aware that a federal lawsuit has been filed pertaining to a dispute over the Nichols Middle School dress code policy" and that officials are consulting with counsel but "have no comment at this time."
School dress codes have become a flashpoint in recent culture wars over gender identity and especially former President Trump.
Districts and personnel coast to coast have banned Trump masks, jerseys, Make America Great Again Hats and even a virtual Trump banner. Michigan students recently sued their school district for prohibiting "Let's Go Brandon" shirts as "profane" expressions under the dress code, and Trump flags worn as a cape for no stated reason on a "field day" with relaxed dress rules.
"Medical doctors and psychiatrists, school boards and teachers, politicians and citizens, parents and children are all engaged in the debate about what makes a person a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, or even whether those categories themselves have any meaning at all," Morrison's suit begins.
But the district has adopted one view and repeatedly expressed it, including through "annual, school-wide events" and by encouraging students to express only that same viewpoint.
The suit includes images of materials adorning school walls from GLSEN, formerly the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, and the transgender and Black Lives Matter version of the rainbow pride flag with an accompanying sign that reads in part "Proud friend/ally of LGBTQ+."
The tween's speech is disfavored because of his "scientific understanding of basic biology that there are only two sexes, male and female," and that gender is "inextricably tied to sex," the suit claims. The school lets other students convey "a multitude of messages concerning virtually unlimited topics on their shirts."
https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/middle-school-bans-only-two-genders-anti-censorship-shirts-illegal-hate-speech