A student called out his school out for punishing him for wearing a T-shirt that said “there are only two genders” as the child’s family considers legal action against the school district.
12-year-old student, Liam Morrison, at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, addressed his school committee last week and that circulated online. As of Monday afternoon, the video has received 3.9 million views.
The video, taken from a school committee meeting on April 13, shows the student explaining that he “never thought that the shirt I wore to school on March 21 would lead me to speak with you today.”
“On that Tuesday morning, I was taken out of gym class to sit down with two adults for what turned out to be a very uncomfortable talk. I was told that people were complaining about the words on my shirt, that my shirt was making some students feel unsafe,” he recalled.
“They told me that I wasn’t in trouble but it sure felt like I was,” added Morrison, recounting that school officials said he must remove his shirt before he could return to class.
When I nicely told them that I didn’t want to do that, they called my father,” he said. Morrison noted that his shirt contained “five simple words” proclaiming “there are only two genders.”
Morrison insisted that the words on his shirt amounted to “nothing harmful, nothing threatening, just a statement I believe to be a fact.”
“I have been told that my shirt was targeting a protected class,” he continued. “Who is this protected class? Are their feelings more important than my rights? I don’t complain when I see pride flags and diversity posters hung throughout the school. Do you know why? Because others have a right to their beliefs just as I do.”
Morrison said he received no pushback from his classmates or teachers due to the shirt: “Several kids told me that they supported my actions and that they wanted [a shirt] too.”
“I was told that the shirt was a disruption of learning. No one got up and stormed out of class, no one burst into tears. I’m sure I would have noticed if they had.”
Morrison outlined examples of actions he witnesses on a daily basis that constitute “disruption of learning,” including “kids acting out in class.” He lamented that “nothing is done” to address disruptive behaviour.
“Why do the rules apply to one yet not another? I feel like these adults were telling me that it wasn’t OK for me to have an opposing view. Their arguments are weak, in my opinion,” he asserted.
After maintaining that he “didn’t go to school that day to hurt feelings or cause trouble,” Morrison summarized what he learned from his experience: “I learned that a lot of other students share my view; I learned that adults don’t always do the right thing or make the right decisions.
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