L.M. v. Town of Middleborough

In March 2023, Liam wore a t-shirt with the words, “There are only two genders,” written on the front. He was removed from his first class by the school principal, who told him he must change his shirt to remain in class. Liam did not wish to change his shirt, so the school contacted his father, who picked him up and took him home for the rest of the day.

A couple of months later, Liam wore a shirt to school with a similar message, except the words “two genders” were replaced with the word “censored.” Together, this shirt read, “There are censored genders.” The principal again told Liam to change his shirt, and Liam complied so that he did not miss another day of class.

Yes. In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, a group of students were sent home from school for wearing black armbands meant to signify their support for a truce in the Vietnam War. The students’ families sued the school, and the Supreme Court ruled that the school had indeed violated the First Amendment by censoring the students’ speech. In the majority opinion, the Court clarified that students and teachers do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” In Liam’s case, the actions of Nichols Middle School officials directly contradict this ruling.

Almost every school day, multiple students wear clothing that expresses messages about a variety of topics. Regarding the issues of gender identity and sexual orientation, Nichols Middle School even hosts a “Pride Week” in which students are encouraged to wear clothing expressing support for LGBT ideology. But when Liam wore a shirt expressing a different view on these issues, the school punished him.

ADF attorneys are asking the court to issue an order prohibiting the Town of Middleborough and the Middleborough School Committee from illegally censoring Liam’s speech. In addition, we are asking the court to declare the speech policy that Nichols Middle School used to censor Liam unconstitutional.