One Massachusetts student filed suit against his school, alleging it censored his ability to exercise his First Amendment rights after he was told to take off a shirt saying, “There are only two genders.”
Seventh-grader Liam Morrison wore the shirt in March to Nichols Middle School (NMS), but was pulled from his gym class and asked to change it over allegations it violated the school’s dress code. Morrison declined to remove the shirt and was picked up by his father shortly thereafter.
“They completely blocked my ability or took away my ability to have a different opinion than they wanted me to have,” Morrison told Steve Doocy during “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
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Liam Morrison wore a shirt to school on May 5 that said “There are censored genders.” ((Morrison family))
“This is about a school censoring a seventh grader who just has a different viewpoint,” Langhofer said. “Students don’t forfeit their free speech rights when they… step into the school. The school is talking about this issue all the time, and all Liam wanted to do was to express his opinion, which is actually shared by a lot of his classmates.”
But even after the school made it clear Morrison was barred from wearing the shirt to school again, he wore another shirt earlier this month saying, “There are censored genders.”
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Despite school pushback, Langhofer said the school’s handbook even supports Morrison’s claims that there are only two genders, despite numerous gender identities.
“It’s hard to tell because their student handbook actually says that public education must be available to members of both sexes, and it says that sexual harassment can’t be against either gender,” Langhofer said. “So… the school’s own communications actually support Liam’s viewpoint. But what they’ve told him is that he can’t express that on his shirt, and we think that’s wrong.”
“No student should ever be punished for simply peacefully sharing their view on a really important topic,” he continued.
Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
