Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, advocating for students' First Amendment rights in the case of L.M. v. Town of Middleborough. The brief, submitted alongside 17 other states, challenges a decision by school officials who prohibited a Massachusetts middle school student from wearing a t-shirt stating, "There are only two genders."
The incident began when the student was instructed to remove the shirt due to its message. In response, the student altered the shirt by covering the word "two" with tape, changing it to read "There are only (censored) genders," which was also banned by the school.
Attorney General Labrador criticized this action, stating: “Students don’t surrender their Constitutionally protected rights to free speech upon entering a school.” He added that while gender identity theory was promoted in classrooms, opposing viewpoints were not tolerated, calling it "blatant viewpoint discrimination."
The attorneys general's brief requests that the Supreme Court review the case following a lower court's ruling in favor of the school. It references the 1969 Tinker case where it was established that students may express themselves as long as it does not interfere materially and substantially with school discipline or infringe on others' rights.
The brief is co-led by South Carolina and West Virginia and joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.