Victory! On June 9, 2024, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in L.M. v. Town of Middleborough upheld a lower court’s final ruling in favor of a Massachusetts public middle school. The Court understood the message as striking negatively at the core of identity for students who are transgender or gender nonconforming and found that the school was within its right to keep the student from wearing the t-shirt. The Court affirmed that, while students have a right to free expression, public schools are permitted to prohibit messages that will cause a substantial disruption to the school learning environment.

GLAD Law filed an amicus brief in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in L.M. v. Town of Middleborough. The brief supports a Middleborough public middle school’s decision to prohibit a student, “L.M.,” from wearing a t-shirt containing the message “THERE ARE ONLY TWO GENDERS” in school. We submitted the brief alongside the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents to emphasize (1) the school’s authority to address issues and behavior that can reasonably be predicted to cause substantial disruption to the school learning environment and (2) the harmful impact on student learning for all students when transgender and nonbinary students are targeted for exclusion.