Federal Judge Indira Talwani Guest Post By Shawn Bradley Witzemann (TMI) A Federal Judge has ruled the First Amendment does not protect 1...
Guest Post By Shawn Bradley Witzemann (TMI)
A Federal Judge has ruled the First Amendment does not protect 12-year-old Liam Morrison’s right to express his opinion on a t-shirt while attending public school in Massachusetts.
In a June 16th ruling, Judge Indira Talwani said, “School administrators were well within their discretion to conclude that the statement ‘THERE ARE ONLY TWO GENDERS’ may communicate that only two gender identities—male and female—are valid, and any others are invalid or nonexistent.”
The Obama appointee went on to support the Middleborough, Massachusetts school’s assertion that the message on Morrison’s t-shirt — a statement of biological fact — constituted an attack on the identities of other students.
the 12-year-old boy “went off on school board members after his school sent him home because he refused to change his T-shirt.”
On May 5, 2023, Morrison attempted an end-around to the rule by wearing the same t-shirt — this time, with the words “ONLY TWO” covered by a piece of tape with the word “CENSORED.” Once again, the school concluded he was bullying a “protected class.”
After failing to find an appropriate administrative remedy, Morrison’s father and stepmother assisted their son, Liam, in filing suit against the school district, Superintendent Carolyn Lyons, and Nichols Middle School Principal Heather Tucker.
The lawsuit alleged “violations of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights,” and pointed out that Nichols Middle School commonly “observes events like ‘Pride Month,’ and ‘Pride Day’ in support of the ‘LGBTQ+ community.’”
Judge Talwani ruled that “the original message of the Shirt was not protected speech” and went on to explain how “the Taped Shirt did not merely protest censorship but conveyed the ‘censored’ message and thus invaded the rights of the other students.”
Even though multiple students began wearing the same shirt in an apparent act of solidarity with Morrison, Judge Talwani ruled that injunctive relief “is not in the public interest.”
“By contrast,” Talwani explained, “Defendants point to statutes passed by the Massachusetts Legislature prohibiting discrimination, bullying, or harassment in schools based on gender identity or expression, as well as directives from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requiring that schools provide a safe environment to progress academically and developmentally regardless of gender identity.”
It remains to be seen if any further legal action will be taken by Liam Morrison and his family, but the message from Judge Talwani is clear: The First Amendment only applies when speech is sanctioned by the state.
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