A panel of Democratic-appointed judges sided with a Massachusetts school that censored a middle school student who was wearing a T-shirt that asserted basic biological facts about gender.
During the 2022-2023 school year, Liam Morrison was a seventh-grader at Nichols Middle School in Middleboro, Massachusetts, about 40 miles south of Boston. During his time there, Liam had no problem wearing multiple T-shirts with various political messages, including “Don’t Tread on Me” and “First Amendment Rights.”
“Students who identify differently from their own have the right to attend school without facing messages that attack their identity.”
However, in March 2023, Liam was wearing a T-shirt that read “There are only two genders,” which led several school officials to claim that the shirt was targeting students from a “protected demographic.” As Blaze News previously reported, school officials called Liam’s father to come pick him up from school after Liam refused to take off the shirt.
“Who is the protected demographic? Are their feelings more important than my rights?” Liam asked the school board at the time.
A few weeks later, he wore the T-shirt to school again, but this time covered the “Just the Two of Us” with one that said “Censored.” He was again ordered to remove his shirt, which he did.
But Liam and his parents didn’t take the school’s decision lying down. They quickly partnered with the Massachusetts Family Association and the Alliance Defending Freedom to file a federal lawsuit on Liam’s behalf, alleging that Middleborough Public Schools officials had violated his First Amendment rights.
A district court later sided with the school, ruling that “students who identify differently from their own have the right to attend school without being confronted with messages that attack their identity,” and that the censored T-shirts could still cause disruption or pose a threat to the safety of other students. Law and Crime report.
Liam, his parents and his legal team then took the case to the US First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, where a three-judge panel on Sunday ruled to uphold the lower court’s ruling.
“We find that Middleborough reasonably anticipated that displaying messages throughout the school denying the existence of the gender identities of transgender and gender nonconforming students would have a serious adverse effect on students’ ability to concentrate in class,” Chief Judge David Barron of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit wrote in the decision.
Barron went on to argue that these “transgender and gender non-conforming students” often become “suicidal” when their gender identity is called into question, so Liam’s shirt “may have a negative impact on these students’ ability to learn”, he said.
Liam has previously stated that no one at school complained or reacted negatively to his shirts – in fact, he claims some of his classmates supported his shirts and even wanted ones like them.
All three of the circuit court’s judges were appointed by Democratic presidents: Barron and fellow Judge O. Rogerie Thompson were both appointed by former President Barack Obama, while Judge Lara Montecalvo was appointed by President Joe Biden.
“This incident isn’t about a T-shirt. It’s about a public school telling middle school students they can’t express opinions that differ from their own.”
Despite the setback at the First Circuit, MFI and ADF maintain that the fight for Liam’s freedom is far from over. [Liam] “We respect his right to free speech and are considering all legal options, including appealing this decision,” ADF senior counsel David Courtman said in a statement.
MFI’s in-house lawyer Sam Whiting said Liam’s legal team was prepared to take the case all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary. Whiting also noted there was “no evidence” that Liam’s shirt “caused confusion.”
“The court decided that they were justified in censoring him simply because some students might be caused emotional distress by his shirt,” Whiting said, perplexed.
“This lawsuit is not about T-shirts. It is about a public school telling middle school students that they may not express opinions that differ from those of the school,” Coatman added. “The school actively promotes the school’s views on gender through posters and ‘Pride’ events, and encourages students to wear clothing with messages on the same subject, so long as that clothing represents the school’s preferred view on that subject.”
“Our legal system is based on the truth that the government cannot silence speakers simply because it disapproves of what they say.”
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