(NewsInsights.org) – A federal court of appeals recently handed down a ruling that could have major implications for First Amendment rights. Boston’s 1st Circuit determined on Sunday that Nichols Middle School did not violate 12-year-old Liam Morrison’s right to free speech by barring him from wearing shirts criticizing gender theory in 2023.
Morrison’s first clash with the school happened when he wore a t-shirt with the slogan “There are only two genders” in response to the facility’s yearly Pride Day. School officials told him he had violated the dress code and advised him never to wear it to class again.
Liam responded by wearing a similar shirt to school approximately one month later. This time, the slogan read, “There are censored genders,” instead — a clear statement of his opinion on what he felt was a gross violation of his right to speak freely.
School officials ultimately banned both t-shirts, arguing that the slogans unfairly targeted and discriminated against non-binary students. Morrison and his family took the matter to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative Christian legal advocacy group.
The ADF helped Morrison and his parents launch a lawsuit against Nichols Middle School. Their core complaint was that the school had censored Liam, but Senior Counsel member Tyson Langhofer told the media the case was also about a student’s right to differ.
“This isn’t just about a T-shirt,” he explained. “It’s about a public school telling a seventh grader he can’t hold a view that goes against their preferred orthodoxy.”
Liam’s lawyers argued that school officials were effectively adopting a stance that gender is based on a person’s self-identity rather than biological sex at birth. They concluded that by promoting events like Pride Day, the facility supported one stance while actively restricting students from expressing opinions rooted in science.
The US District Court ruled against Morrison in February, determining that the school did not infringe on his Constitutional rights by banning the shirt. Judge Indira Talwani said the school had the right to bar the item of clothing because it “invaded on the rights of trans and gender non-conforming students, who are a protected class under Massachusetts law.”
Morrison and the ADF immediately appealed to the 1st Circuit Court to overturn the decision. While it, too, rejected their arguments on Sunday, neither Liam nor his attorneys are ready to give up; they’re already planning their next appeal.
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