Student with ‘only two genders’ shirt schools district on free speech: ‘This right is called the First Amendment’
Heather Hamilton
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A Massachusetts seventh grader is gaining national attention after telling his local school board that his middle school violated his free speech rights.
Liam Morrison, a student at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, was allegedly sent home from school for wearing and refusing to change out of a shirt that read, “There are only two genders.”
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Conservative social media account Libs of TikTok shared a video of Morrison’s comments during a Middleborough School Committee meeting on April 13.
“They told me that I wasn’t in trouble, but it sure felt like I was. I was told that I would need to remove my shirt before I could return to class. When I nicely told them that I didn’t want to do that, they called my father,” Morrison said. “Thankfully, my dad, supportive of my decisions, came to pick me up. What did my shirt say? Five simple words: There are only two genders. Nothing harmful. Nothing threatening. Just a statement I believe to be a fact.”
Morrison explained that he was told his shirt was “targeting a protected class” and was a “disruption to learning.”
“Who is this protected class? Are their feelings more important than my rights?” the seventh grader asked the school committee. “I don’t complain when I see Pride flags and diversity posters hung throughout the school. Do you know why? Because others have a right to their beliefs, just as I do.”
Morrison added that he did not witness any students becoming upset by his shirt.
“No one got up and stormed out of class,” he said. “No one burst into tears. I’m sure I would have noticed if they had. I experience disruptions to my learning every day. Kids acting out in class are a disruption, yet nothing is done. Why do the rules apply to one yet not another?”
Morrison noted that he has “learned a lot from this experience.”
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“I learned that a lot of other students share my view. I learned that adults don’t always do the right thing or make the right decisions. I know that I have a right to wear a shirt with those five words. Even at 12 years old, I have my own political opinions and I have a right to express those opinions — even at school,” he told the committee. “This right is called the First Amendment to the Constitution.”
The Middleborough School Committee did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.