Supreme Court won’t hear ‘two genders’ T-shirt case

MIDDLEBORO — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a student at Nichols Middle School in Middleboro who was instructed to remove a T-shirt with the words “There Are Only Two Genders.”

The court's decision on Tuesday, May 27, marks the latest step in a legal battle that has drawn international attention. 

The case centers on a student’s right to wear clothing expressing individual views, versus the school administration’s authority to ask them to remove it because the views were perceived as harmful to other students. Two lower courts have supported the school’s right to ask that the shirt be removed. 

The student, Liam Morrison, wore the shirt to school on March 21, 2023. He was 12 years old and a seventh grader at Nichols Middle School at the time.

Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas disagreed with the other seven justices and argued that the case should be heard.

“The case presents an issue of great importance for our nation’s youth,” Alito wrote in his argument. “We should reaffirm the bedrock principle that a school may not engage in viewpoint discrimination when it regulates student speech.”

On the morning Morrison wore the shirt, a teacher reported it to school officials. The teacher expressed concern for the “physical safety” of the student body, according to wording included in Alito’s argument.

The teacher said that “multiple members of the LGBTQ+ population at NMS… would be impacted by the T-shirt message” and that it could “potentially disrupt classes.”

Morrison was called to the office of then-Interim Principal Heather Tucker. She said other students “complained” that the shirt “made them upset.”

In a response to Superintendent of Schools Carolyn Lyons, Morrison’s father said the shirt was not “directed to any particular person.” He said it simply stated his son’s view on a topic “that is being discussed in social media, schools and churches all across our country.”

He also noted that Nichols students make political statements “every day.”

Morrison later wore a second shirt that read, “There are only [censored] genders.” He was also told to remove that shirt.

According to Alito, the second shirt reflected Morrison’s frustration that “he was not allowed to express his views on an issue of personal and national concern, especially when other students and NMS officials routinely espouse the opposite position during school hours.”

Lyons explained that the shirt violated the school dress code by “target[ing] students of a protected class; namely in the area of gender identity,” according to Alito’s wording.

The organization Alliance Defending Freedom has supported the Morrisons’ legal stance throughout the case and expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court’s decision.

“Students don’t lose their free speech rights the moment they walk into a school building,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation David Cortman said. “Schools can’t suppress students’ views they disagree with.”

Lyons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At an April 2023 School Committee meeting, she said, “The dividing line for me as this district’s leader is when all students are not protected, when all students are not accepted for who they are and are told, either directly or indirectly, that they don’t belong here in Middleboro.”