Middleboro T-shirt wars heat up, parents call for heads to roll, LGBTQ supporters push back
MIDDLEBORO — In the wake of Wednesday's announcement that Liam Morrison, a seventh-grade student at Nichols Middle School, filed a lawsuit against the Town of Middleboro and school administrators, some members of the public are calling for Superintendent Carolyn Lyons and School Committee Chair Rich Young to resign.
Meanwhile, other members of the Middleboro community praised school administrators for their response to the two incidents involving Morrison — when he was sent home from school twice for wearing a controversial T-shirt that officials said violated the school's dress code.
The first time the shirt said, "There are only two genders." The second time he covered over part of the message with the word "censored," so that the shirt read "There are censored genders."
At the Middleboro School Committee meeting Thursday evening — just two days after Morrison's attorneys sued the school and town — at least 10 Middleboro residents, both parents and students, spoke to the board either in support of Morrison or the school district.
"I'm asking for the resignation of the superintendent and the chair," said Teresa Farley, a Middleboro parent and former school committee member, to open the crowded public comment portion of Thursday night's meeting.
"I no longer trust that either of you have our children's best interest in mind," she said.
Morrison's lawyers said the Nichols Middle School principal and other staff violated his First Amendment right to freedom of speech when they sent him home from school in March when he declined to change his T-shirt that read "there are only two genders."
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He wore the "censored" version of the same shirt to school on Friday, May 5 and was sent home a second time.
Middleboro Town Manager James McGrail declined to comment on the pending lawsuit. Lyons and all school committee members have yet to respond to The Enterprise's multiple requests for comment.
One by one, many members of the public — in about equal numbers for each side — spoke to the board, expressing support for Morrison's right to freedom of speech or saying the message on Morrison's shirt was hate speech against transgender students.
"It's a hateful shirt." said one speaker who did not provide her name, a Middleboro parent whose son identifies as transgender. "It's hatred toward other people who feel that their genders do not match who they are. And by them wearing them, they are hurting students."
"If you think it doesn't cause pain, it does cause pain," she said.
Most attendees backing Liam's lawsuit wore bright orange T-shirts that said "I stand with Liam Morrison," and two speakers asked for the resignation of Lyons and Young.
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Multiple attendees who spoke out against Morrison's shirt said they didn't come into the meeting planning to speak but did so unscripted after hearing others supporting Morrison.
"There is a difference, a big difference, between freedom of speech and having it plastered in words on a T-shirt," said Jodi Janz-Carleton, a parent of twins in the school district.
Janz-Carleton said her kids are two of three Jewish students in Middleboro.
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"There are people that don't believe the Holocaust happened," Janz-Carleton said in her passionate speech to the committee. "You wear a T-shirt that says that to my house and I will personally take it off your back."
Many of Morrison's supporters expressed concerns that the lawsuit will have a high price tag for the town, the school and, particularly, the taxpayers.
The Middleboro School Committee said at the meeting an attorney has not been assigned to represent them in the case, and the committee has not yet convened to discuss the incidents involving Morrison.
According to Sean Whiting, Morrison's attorney, the district said Morrison broke the school's dress code which states, “Clothing must not state, imply, or depict hate speech or imagery that target groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, or any other classification.”
“This isn’t about a T-shirt; this is about a public school telling a seventh grader that he isn’t allowed to hold a view that differs from the school’s preferred orthodoxy,” said Tyson Langhofer, Morrison's senior counsel for the case, in the announcement of the lawsuit.
Morrison spoke in front of the committee at their meeting on April 13 where he detailed the initial incident in March. Neither Morrison, nor his family or attorneys, attended Thursday night's meeting.
This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Middleboro parents divided over Liam Morrison's 'two genders' T-shirt
