Student asks US Supreme Court to hear his free speech case

WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to hear the case of a then middle school student who was forbidden by his Massachusetts school from wearing two different T-shirts to school with the words “There are only two genders” and “There are [censored] genders” on the front, respectively.

In June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit affirmed the school’s decision, prompting ADF attorneys to ask the high court to review the case and rule that Nichols Middle School in Middleborough violated the First Amendment when it stopped the student from wearing his shirts to school.

“Students don’t lose their free speech rights the moment they walk into a school building,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation David Cortman. “This case isn’t about T-shirts; it’s about a public school telling a middle-schooler that he isn’t allowed to express a view that differs from their own. The school actively promotes its view about gender through posters and ‘Pride’ events, and it encourages students to wear clothing with messages on the same topic—so long as that clothing expresses the school’s preferred views on the subject. Our legal system is built on the truth that the government cannot silence any speaker just because it disapproves of what they say.”

As the petition filed with the Supreme Court explains, “Middleborough bombarded L.M., a middle school student, with messages promoting its view that sex and gender are self-defined, limitless, and unmoored from biology. Seeing these ideas false and harmful, L.M. responded by donning a ‘There are only two genders’ t-shirt expressing his differing view and, after Middleborough suppressed that shirt, wearing a ‘There are [censored] genders’ t-shirt protesting censorship, which Middleborough banned too.”

“L.M. sought to participate in his school’s marketplace of ideas and address sociopolitical matters in a passive, silent, and untargeted way,” the petition continues. “This Court’s review is urgently needed to reaffirm that Tinker protects ‘unpopular ideas,’ public schools can’t establish what is ‘orthodox in … matters of opinion,’ and students aren’t ‘confined to the expression of … sentiments that are officially approved.’”

The petition further notes that, “The [1st Circuit’s] ruling is irreconcilable with this Court’s decisions and students’ First Amendment right ‘to freedom of expression of their views,’ ‘on controversial subjects like’ gender identity.”

Attorneys with ADF and Massachusetts Family Institute representing the student filed the lawsuit, L.M. v. Town of Middleborough, in May 2023.

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.

# # #