The First Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against a middle school student who wore a T-shirt displaying the message, “There are only two genders.”

As Breitbart News reported last year, middle schooler Liam Morrison of Nichols Middle School in Middleborough was asked to remove his “There are only two genders” shirt.

The incident first occurred on March 5 when Liam Morrison was pulled from gym class and asked to remove his shirt because other students were allegedly complaining and did not feel safe, as first reported by WPDE. The seventh grader was told by a staff member that his shirt was “targeting a protected class.”  Morrison said he would not change his shirt, and the school called his father to pick him up.

During a Middleborough Public Schools board meeting on April 13, Morrison shared his experience with the intention that the school district should show more support for students’ First Amendment rights. The video was picked up by Libs of TikTok and received more than 127,000 likes on Twitter.

Morrison’s parents filed a lawsuit, arguing that the school violated his First Amendment rights. Earlier this year, a district court ruled against the parents, which the appeals court affirmed this week, according to Fox News.

“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,” David Cortman, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel and vice president of U.S. Litigation, said in a statement following the federal court’s decision.

Cortman said the legal system is “built on the truth that the government cannot silence any speaker just because it disapproves of what they say.”

“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,” Cortman emphasized.

The Morrison family will be reviewing further legal options going forward.

Morrison told Fox News earlier this year that he did not wear the shirt to offend members of the LGBTQ community.

“I’m just voicing my opinion about a statement that I believe to be true,” he said at the time. “And I feel like some people may think that I’m imposing hate speech, even though it’s not directed towards anyone.”

The case is Morrison v. Middleborough, No. 23-1535, in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.