Middle School Boy Punished for Wearing 'Two Genders' T-Shirt Takes Case Before Appeals Court

A Massachusetts 8th grader has urged a federal appeal court to protect his First Amendment right to free speech after he was allegedly kicked out of school for wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the words, "There are only two genders."

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is representing 13-year-old Liam Morrison.The group argued before a 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Boston last Friday that school officials at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by censoring him when he expressed his viewpoint.

According to the nonprofit law firm, Morrison, who is now in the eighth grade, expressed that "There are only two sexes, male and female—and that a person's gender—their status as a boy or girl, woman or man—is inextricably tied to biological sex."

As CBN News reported in March 2023, Morrison wore a shirt to school stating "There are only two genders."

The principal of the school, along with a school counselor, pulled Morrison out of class and ordered him to remove his shirt.

After Morrison politely declined, school officials said that he had to remove his shirt or he could not return to class.

As a result, Morrison left school and missed the rest of his classes that day.

Then, on May 5, he was asked again to change his t-shirt when he wore another one adorned with the message, "There are censored genders."

"I have been told that my shirt was targeting a protected class," he said. "Who is this protected class? Are their feelings more important than my rights? I don't complain when I see Pride flags and diversity posters hung throughout the school. Do you know why? Because others have a right to their beliefs just as I do. Even I, at 12 years old, have my own political opinions and I have a right to express those opinions."

"Even at school," Morrison continued, "This right is called the First Amendment to the Constitution."

The young boy's parents decided last year to sue the school claiming school officials' censorship of their son's message violated his First and Fourteenth Amendments rights.

But a lower court declined to block the school's shirt ban last year.

School administrators were well within their discretion to conclude that the statement 'THERE ARE ONLY TWO GENDERS' may communicate that only two gender identities–male and female–are valid, and any others are invalid or nonexistent, and to conclude that students who identify differently, whether they do so openly or not, have a right to attend school without being confronted by messages attacking their identities," ruled U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani.

The ADF represented Morrison and his family before the three-judge appeal panel arguing the school infringed upon the young boy's freedom of expression. 

 "This case isn't about t-shirts. It's about a public school telling a middle-schooler that he isn't allowed to express a view that differs from their own. The school actively promotes its view about gender through posters and 'Pride' events. And it encourages other students to wear t-shirts expressing messages about gender," ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman said in a statement.

He added, "At the end of last school year, another student wore a shirt that said, 'He she they, it's all okay.' That was allowed, even though just a few weeks before they punished L.M. for his 'There are only two genders' shirt simply because it did not align with their preferred beliefs. We are urging the court to rule that free speech belongs to all, not some."

The judges, all appointed by Democratic presidents, questioned why the school's actions were not justified to ensure a safe environment for nonbinary students or deter disruptions the shirt would prompt, according to NBC News. 

According to the outlet, U.S. Circuit Judge Lara Montecalvo compared the shirt with a brochure handed out by students expressing a particular message saying the brochure could be thrown away, but not the shirt. 

"A t-shirt that is worn all day is worn all day," she said. "You have to look at it. You have to read it."

CBN News has contacted Middleborough Public Schools for comment. We'll post it hear if we hear back. 
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