Lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Massachusetts Family Institute have filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Middleborough, Massachusetts, seventh-grader whose school would not allow him to wear a t-shirt brandishing the slogans “There are only two genders” and “There are censored genders.”
Reports Boston.com:
Liam Morrison, a student at Nichols Middle School, first decided to wear a shirt with “there are only two genders” written on it in March. Morrison was removed from his first class of the day and told that other students had complained about the shirt. The school’s acting principal said that Morrison could only return to class if he removed the shirt. Morrison refused, according to a complaint filed last month, and was sent home for the day.
The lawsuit was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom and the Massachusetts Family Institute on behalf of Morrison. 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 seventh grader that he isn’t allowed to hold 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 court to rectify.”
Middleborough Superintendent Carolyn Lyons’ office did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
A hearing occurred Tuesday in Massachusetts District Court regarding a motion for a preliminary injunction. Morrison’s lawyers were asking the court to prevent school officials from enforcing their ban on the shirts.
A judge has not yet ruled on the motion for preliminary injunction, an ADF spokesperson said.
Read the complete Boston.com story here.
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