(LifeSiteNews) — A federal court ruled in favor of a Massachusetts school district that banned a student from wearing a shirt stating the biological fact that “There are only two genders.”

Chief Judge David Barron, an Obama appointee, ruled that school administrators have leeway under the First Amendment to regulate content that might allegedly be “demeaning.”

He was joined by fellow Obama appointee Judge Ojetta Thompson and Biden appointee Judge Lara Montecalvo. Judge Barron previously blamed the student’s shirt for “threatening messages” left at the school, according to NBC News’ paraphrase of his comments.

However, advocates of the student blasted the First Circuit Court of Appeals, saying it erred in the case L.M. v. Town of Middleborough.

Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented student Liam Morrison, said an appeal is likely. Morrison, after being told not to wear the first shirt, later wore a shirt saying, “There are [censored] genders.”

“Students don’t lose their free speech rights the moment they walk into a school building,” Senior Counsel David Cortman stated in a news release, responding to the Sunday ruling.

“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,” Cortman stated. “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.”

“Our legal system is built on the truth that the government cannot silence any speaker just because it disapproves of what they say,” Cortman stated. “The 1st Circuit erred in its decision denying L.M. his right to free speech, and we are reviewing all legal options including appealing this decision.”

An attorney who often has represented liberal causes in the federal court system also criticized the judge’s decision.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled in favor of student free speech rights on contentious issues. For example, in 1969, the Court ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District that students could wear black armbands to school in protest of the war in Vietnam. In 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in B.L. v. Mahanoy Area School District in favor of a student who was punished for posting vulgar comments on her personal social media while off-campus.

“The decision substantially lowers the bar for allowing school authorities to censor student speech considered ‘demeaning,’ even if it doesn’t target any particular student or students, and even if it is not disruptive,” Robert Corn-Revere with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told LifeSiteNews via email. FIRE submitted a brief in support of Morrison.

“And it empowers school officials to impose what views will be orthodox,” Corn-Revere said. “The holding is inconsistent with Tinker, which held that neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate, and with the Supreme Court’s more recent holding in Mahanoy Area School District.”

The Massachusetts Family Institute, which supports Morrison, also criticized the decision.

“This case is about much more than a t-shirt,” the group wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “The court’s decision is not only a threat to the free speech rights of public school students across the country, but a threat to basic biological truths. While we are disappointed in this decision, we aren’t done fighting yet.”

We received word yesterday that the First Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Liam Morrison, the brave 7th-grade student who was sent home from school last year for daring to wear a shirt that stated “There Are Only Two Genders.”

This case is about much more than a…

— MA Family Institute (@MAFamilyInst) June 10, 2024

“While we are disappointed in this decision, we aren’t done fighting yet,” the group also wrote in a statement. “Along with our partners at Alliance Defending Freedom, we are reviewing all legal options, including appealing to the United States Supreme Court. Please pray for continued strength for Liam and his family, as well as wisdom for our legal team.”

‘Are their feelings more important than my rights?’ Morrison says

Morrison’s expression of the biological reality of sex and his subsequent punishment last year attracted further attention after Libs of TikTok posted a powerful speech he gave in front of the school board.

“I was told that people were complaining about the words on my shirt, that my shirt was making some students feel ‘unsafe,’” he said. “Yes, words on a shirt made people feel unsafe. They told me that I wasn’t in trouble, but it sure felt like I was.”

“What did my shirt say? Five simple words: ‘There are only two genders.’ 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 said.

“Who is this ‘protected class’? Are their feelings more important than my rights?”