A 12-year-old Massachusetts student was sent home from school for wearing a shirt that read “There are only two genders.”
On Sunday a video of seventh-grader Liam Morrison went viral where he described the incident at a meeting of the Middleborough School Committee last month.
On March 21, Morrison claims he was removed from gym class at John T. Nichols Jr. Middle School and taken to a meeting with school administrators.
During what he called an “uncomfortable talk,” officials informed him that other students had been complaining about the message on his shirt because it had made them feel “unsafe.”
“They told me that I wasn’t in trouble, but it sure felt like I was,” the boy stated. “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.”
The boy then noted that his father picked him up from school in support of his stance.
During the meeting, Morrison argued that the five words that were printed on his shirt meant “nothing harmful, nothing threatening. Just a statement I believe to be a fact.”
Morrison said that he was told the statement on his shirt was a “disruption to learning” and that it was “targeting a protected class,” which appears to be transgender and non-binary people.
In his statement to the school committee, the 12-year-old disputed those claims.
“Who is this protected class?” he asked. “Are their feelings more important than my rights? 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.”
He further claimed that his shirt didn’t cause any disruption in the classroom.
“No one got up and stormed out of class. No one burst into tears,” Morrison told his audience. “I’m sure I would have noticed if they had.”
“I experience disruptions to my learning every day,” he added. “Kids acting out in class are a disruption, yet nothing is done. Why do the rules apply to one yet not another?”
Morrison said that “not one person” had protested to him directly about the wording on his shirt before being sent home, and he claimed that some students had even come out in support of him.
He added that he didn’t wear that shirt to school that day to “hurt feelings or cause trouble,” but rather to exercise his right to freedom of speech.
“I know that I have a right to wear a shirt with those five words,” Morrison said. “Even at 12 years old, I have my own political opinions and I have a right to express those opinions. Even at school. This right is called the First Amendment to the Constitution.”
At the end of his speech, Morrison urged the School Committee to uphold the right of students to free speech.
“Next time, it may not only be me,” he warned. “There might be more soon that decide to speak out.”
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