A Massachusetts student who was allegedly expelled from his school for wearing a T-shirt with words saying there are only two genders has appeared in court over the ordeal.
Liam Morrison, now in eighth grade, claimed his father had to pick him up from John T. Nichols Jr. Middle School in March when he refused to change.
His parents filed a federal free speech lawsuit against the city of Middleborough, the school’s former interim principal, Heather Tucker, the Middleborough School Committee and Middleborough Public Schools Superintendent Carolyn J. Lyons.
Morrison appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston on Thursday wearing the same controversial “there are only two genders” T-shirt.
He claims that by forcing him to take off his shirt, the school district was stifling his First Amendment right to free speech and said officials “took away my ability to have a different opinion.”
Massachusetts student Liam Morrison, who was allegedly expelled from his school for wearing a T-shirt with words saying there are only two genders, appeared in court over the ordeal.
Liam Morrison, now in eighth grade, claimed his father had to pick him up from John T. Nichols Jr. Middle School in March when he refused to change.
Her parents filed a federal free speech lawsuit against the city of Middleborough, the school’s former interim principal, Heather Tucker, the Middleborough School Committee and Middleborough Public Schools Superintendent Carolyn J. Lyons (pictured). photo).
Morrison’s lawyer from Alliance Defending Freedom presented his arguments to the court on Thursday.
“His shirt did not point to any individual,” said attorney David Cortman. “It just addressed the same issue that the school had already raised, but from a different point of view.”
He said the Middleborough school district celebrates Pride month with flags that send the message that there are “an unlimited number of genders.”
Morrison then wore the controversial shirt and was allegedly asked by school officials to take it off or leave school.
The student then put on another top that said “there are censored genders” and was asked to take it off.
“The situation should have been a teaching moment,” Cortman said. “This should have been a time… where we taught students how to debate controversial issues of the day, and yet that didn’t happen.”
“They decided to censor it,” he added. ‘But what the school cannot do, even though it may share its own views, is decide that only students who agree with those views can speak, and that anyone who disagrees must be silenced. And that’s exactly what they did here.
Morrison addressed reporters outside the courthouse on Thursday and insisted he had been harassed for “expressing my opinion.”
‘It’s not just a shirt. This is about free speech,” he stated. “All students have the constitutional right to express their free speech without fear of punishment by school officials.”
A Boston judge previously ruled that Morrison cannot wear the “there are only two genders” T-shirt while the case is still being decided.
Deborah Ecker, the attorney representing the school district, argued: “By looking at what school officials knew about their school, the age of the children, the LGBTQ community at that school, and the real mental health concerns, their decision to have to the plaintiff Taking off his shirt was reasonable.
“They could reasonably foresee that the message, if permitted to be used at school and in the classroom, would reasonably cause a disruption to school work and invade the rights of other students.”
Morrison claimed that by forcing him to remove his shirt, the school district was stifling his First Amendment right to free speech. ‘Who is this protected class?’ -Morrison asked. ‘Are your feelings more important than my rights?’
He mentioned the incident at a Middleborough Public School Board meeting on April 13.
Morrison claimed his father had to pick him up at John T. Nichols Jr. High School in March when he refused to change out of his “There Are Only Two Genders” T-shirt.
He said school officials told him other students complained that it made them feel “unsafe” and that it was “disrupting their education.”
Tyson Langhofer, director of the Alliance for Defending Freedom’s Center for Academic Freedom, which helped the family file the lawsuit, said, “This isn’t about a T-shirt; it’s about a T-shirt.” This is a public school telling a seventh grader that he is not allowed to have an opinion that differs from the school’s preferred orthodoxy.
‘Public school officials cannot censor Liam’s speech by forcing him to remove a t-shirt that states a scientific fact. Doing so is a serious violation of the First Amendment.
He added: ‘It’s hard to say because your student handbook actually says that public education must be available to members of both sexes, and it says that sexual harassment cannot be against either gender.
‘So… the school’s own communications actually support Liam’s point of view. But what he’s been told is that he can’t express that on his jersey and we think that’s wrong.”
Morrison spoke about the incident, saying he was pulled out of gym class on March 21 to meet with school officials, who told him people were complaining about his shirt, saying it made them feel “unsafe.”
‘They told me I would have to take off my shirt before I could return to class. When I politely told them I didn’t want to do that, they called my father.
‘Fortunately, my dad, who supported my decisions, came to pick me up.
Morrison said he wanted to bring the issue to the attention of the School Committee. The School Committee appears here at its April 13 meeting.
‘What did my shirt say?’ he continued. ‘Five simple words: “There are only two genders.” Nothing harmful. Nothing threatening. Just a statement that I believe is a fact.
He added that he didn’t go to school that day to “hurt feelings or cause problems.”
But school officials told him his shirt was “directed toward a protected class.”
‘Who is this protected class?’ -Morrison asked. ‘Are your feelings more important than my rights?’
‘I don’t complain when I see Pride flags and diversity posters hanging all over the school. You know why? Because others have the right to their beliefs just like me,” she stated.
Middleborough Public Schools Superintendent Lyons said Liam had violated the dress code.
He said ‘the content of Liam’s t-shirt was directed at students in a protected class; specifically in the area of gender identity.’
DailyMail.com has contacted Middleborough Public Schools for comment.