The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in St. Louis, Missouri, ruled this week in favor of freedom of expression in schools. The Court dealt with a case in which a parents' association sued a school district in Iowa for wanting to punish students who do not respect queer ideology.
The school district's policies were intended to use remedies such as punishment and even expulsion from school to prohibit the "intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student's gender identity." With this, the school district targeted students who refused to believe in gender self-determination and who claimed that there are only two genders assigned genetically and biologically at birth.
"A school district cannot avoid First Amendment restrictions simply by defining certain speech as 'bullying' or 'harassment,'" supports the opinion of the judges about the case. The verdict states that school district policy is too ambiguous. "It does not provide adequate information about what conduct is prohibited, because it does not define the term 'respect.'"
The District states that "respect" only requires the use of a student's preferred name and pronouns, and does not prohibit general opinions about gender identity. The district court concluded that the policy "appears" to be so limited because the paragraph regarding refusal to "respect a student's gender identity" is set forth at the end of a section titled "Names and Pronouns."
The "There are only two genders" t-shirt
The ruling of the Missouri Court of Appeals becomes relevant after the case of Liam Morrison, a 12-year-old boy from Massachusetts who was expelled from his school for wearing a t-shirt that featured the phrase "There are only two genders," became relevant this summer."
Morrison came into conflict with the school and the school district because the school staff wanted to take away his shirt . According to the school, some students were offended by Morrison's shirt, and he refused to take it off due to the exercise of his free speech rights.
Morrison's case also went to court and a good number of associations across the country showed their support for the student in his fight for freedom of expression and real facts. The lawsuit filed by Morrison's legal defense alleges that Nichols Middle School in Middleborough violated the First Amendment by preventing Morrison from wearing his jersey . They also asked the court to stop the school from enforcing its unconstitutional dress code policy that discriminates against students based on the viewpoint they express.
The case is reminiscent of that of the Tinker brothers, who in 1969 wore black armbands to their school with a message against the Vietnam War. After persecution by the institutions, Justice ended up ruling in favor of the brothers.
Morrison already appeared before the Board of his school district months ago, at which time he asked board members why he could not express his opinion about the two genders that exist, while the school was covered in flags LGBT.
16 states with Liam Morrison
In support of Morrison, 16 states led by South Carolina submitted a joint brief to the First Circuit to protest against the courts' first decision not to side with Morrison and continue with the doctrine of the 1969 Tinker case. Massachusetts federal judge Indira Talwani filed a preliminary injunction against Morrison's lawsuit, leaving his case up in the air.
