Will Middleboro 'two genders' T-shirt case land in Supreme Court? It's only one step away

BOSTON — Liam Morrison — the Middleboro student who’s suing the school district for sending him home last year after wearing his “there are only two genders” T-shirt to school — only has three full months left as a student at Nichols Middle School. But the eighth grader still plans to fight for his right to wear his controversial shirt.

Morrison and his lawyers from Alliance Defending Freedom met in a courtroom Thursday morning at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First District in Boston, where judges heard oral arguments in L.M. v. Town of Middleborough for and against the student and his removal from school.

In March 2023, when Morrison was a 12-year-old seventh grader at the school, he wore a shirt to school reading “there are only two genders” after Nichols Middle School held a Pride day and hung Pride flags up in classrooms. School officials sent Morrison home, stating his shirt targeted a “protected group of students” who identify as gender nonbinary.

Then on May 5, he was sent home again for wearing a modified version of the T-shirt that taped over “only two” with the word "censored."

Morrison’s attorneys argued school administrators violated his right to freedom of speech. They appealed a ruling from June made by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Eastern Division against Morrison's request to continue wearing the shirt, bringing the case up to the next level of courts.

The lawsuit sparked a major debate among parents in Middleboro, who spoke out passionately at a School Committee meeting in May on both sides of the issue, in support of school officials, on the one hand, and Morrison on the other.

“His T-shirt did not target any individual, it merely addressed the same subject matter the school already raised,” said David Cortman, Morrison's attorney, who is senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation at the Alliance Defending Freedom.

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What did Middleborough Public Schools say in court?

When he first wore his T-shirt to school, then-acting Principal Heather Tucker told Morrison the shirt violated the school's dress code — which states that “clothing must not state, 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.”

The attorney representing Middleborough Public Schools Deborah Ecker said the school received several email complaints about Morrison's T-shirt, and that the message on his shirt would significantly harm students in the school who identify as transgender or nonbinary.

"It says to someone who is non-binary that you do not exist, that your validity does not exist. And it attacks the very core characteristic," Ecker said in court Thursday.

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Ecker said his shirt would make students in that community feel unsafe in the building, and the school administrators were aware that a portion of the student body identified as nonbinary. Morrison said in a brief press conference following the hearing that he has heard about and seen students "of that nature."

Ecker said the school knew the mental health impacts that Morrison's message could have on students given the young age of the school's student body. The attorney said the school could "reasonably forecast" that his shirt could cause disruption and "invade the rights of other students."

In particular, the school could use predictive judgment that the message on his shirt could lead a young student to have suicidal ideation, according to Ecker, so the school acted preemptively which is allowed by law.

School lawyers argued that the school should develop an inclusive environment for all students, especially given the knowledge that some students identify as gender nonbinary. They said the school's Pride day was an example of fostering an inclusive environment.

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What did Morrison's lawyers say?

Morrison's attorneys argued that Morrison's T-shirt was a nonviolent way to express his views on the issue of gender identity — a view that "there are only two genders."

Cortman said the district violated Morrison's First Amendment right to free speech by banning his T-shirt, and that his viewpoint was being censored. Since the school held a Pride day and hung Pride flags, he should be allowed to publicize his views on the same subject.

“T-shirts are the most passive way to speak…You can avert your eyes," Cortman said in court on Thursday. “School is a marketplace of ideas.”

Cortman argued that the school disregarded Morrison's viewpoint — in what he called "viewpoint discrimination." He said Morrison's voice was restricted and the school wasn't fostering an inclusive environment for someone outside of this "protected class."

“It’s an interesting definition of inclusivity,” Cortman said in the post-hearing press conference, which earned national media attention, with news crews from Arizona and Washington D.C. in attendance. “Where is that for Liam?”

“The promise of inclusivity should be across the board," he said.

According to Morrison's lawyers, the message on his shirt wasn't invading the rights of others but was a passive way for Morrison to share his opinion. If the school wanted his shirt to be removed, administrators would have to ban "the topic as a whole" not just one argument.

Liam's case gets national attention

Since he spoke at a Middleboro School Committee meeting in May 2023, Morrison's "two genders" T-shirt and his lawsuit have gone viral, gaining national attention. Morrison at one point appeared on Fox News to discuss his case.

"This case could have national effects," Cortman said in the press conference following the oral arguments Thursday. "Even though people might be offended by what you say, you're still allowed to say it."

A small group of teenage students and their teachers attended Morrison's hearing on a field trip.

"One side was censored," Cortman said. "That's not the way we should be going in this country."

U.S. Supreme Court would be next step

If either side wishes to appeal the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First District ruling it would be to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court does not have to accept a case. They have to vote to take the case — and it requires four of the nine justices to take it.

If they don't take it, then the previous ruling stands, in this case the First Circuit's.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Middleboro free speech v. hate speech case in schools argued in Boston