The Massachusetts seventh-grader\u2019s school forbade him from wearing the garment and a \u2018censored\u2019 version mocking its decision<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Massachusetts district court denied a request on Wednesday from the lawyers of a 12-year-old student seeking to exercise his free speech rights by wearing a t-shirt reading \u201cthere are only two genders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston refused to grant a temporary injunction preventing Nichols Middle School from restricting seventh grader Liam Morrison\u2019s freedom to express his views on gender while the court considers its final decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLiam\u2019s not asking to literally wear whatever he wants, but he is asking to do what other students are already allowed to do, which is express their view on this topic in a non-disruptive manner,\u201d Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Logan Spena told Fox News on Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey claim that because Liam\u2019s message is not inclusive, they can exclude it,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhat they don\u2019t account for is how does their own speech and all the other speech they already permit impact Liam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ADF and Massachusetts Family Institute sued Nichols Middle School and the town of Middleborough on Morrison\u2019s behalf last month after he was pulled out of gym class and ordered to remove the shirt in question on March 21. When he refused, his father was called to take him home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
School staff reportedly told the seventh-grader his shirt was \u201ctargeting a protected class\u201d and created a \u201cdisruption to learning\u201d because it was making some people feel \u201cunsafe,\u201d though he later told the Middleborough School Committee that \u201cnot one person\u201d had expressed discomfort or upset when he wore the shirt to class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Morrison protested the school\u2019s censorship by wearing another shirt to class last month reading \u201cthere are only censored genders,\u201d he was pulled out of class within minutes and ordered to remove it as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a Middleborough School Committee meeting in April, Morrison questioned who is the \u201cprotected class\u201d he had offended. \u201cAre their feelings more important than my rights?\u201d he asked, pointing out that he didn\u2019t complain when the school hung \u201cPride flags and diversity posters\u201d in the halls because \u201cothers have a right to their beliefs, just as I do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nichols Middle School has stood behind its dress code, which prohibits messages on clothing that \u201cstate, imply, or depict hate speech or imagery that target groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, or any other classification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawsuit argues that the school\u2019s promotion of Pride month and other LGBTQ initiatives while barring Morrison from expressing his contrary views constitutes a violation of not only the First but the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law. The next hearing is scheduled for June 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n