Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Judge Explains Limits of Free Speech [semi-satire]
Semi-News/Semi-Satire ^ | 25 June 2023 | John Semmens

Posted on 06/27/2023 10:33:38 AM PDT by John Semmens

In Massachusetts, acting principal Heather Tucker and Middleborough Public Schools Superintendent Carolyn Lyons barred 12-year-old Liam Morrison from wearing a T-shirt with the words "there are only two genders." Since other T-shirts saying "celebrate gay pride" are permitted at the school, Morrison sought attorneys to help him defend his right to freedom of speech.

Lyons defended suppressing the shirt, saying "it targeted students of a protected class; namely in the area of gender identity. This is hate speech that cannot be permitted. Liam's return to school wearing a shirt saying 'there are censored genders' mocked our authority and also had to be banned."

In court, US District Judge Indira Talwani sided with the school and affirmed its right to censor any message that "collides with the rights of others to be secure and be let alone. For some students the belief that there are many genders is a vital component of their perception of self. It is the school's obligation to protect this perception from assault."

Tyson Langhofer, director of the Center for Academic Freedom at Alliance Defending Freedom who is helping with Morrison's case, called the ruling "a gross violation of the First Amendment. What about Liam's right to be secure and be let alone? His shirts stated two facts--that there are only two genders and that the school was censoring him. If we allow government officials like school administrators to censor facts we are allowing tyranny and idiocy to pollute our culture."

Judge Talwani asserted that "it is the factual claim that deprives the shirt's words from First Amendment protection. Because there are people who would disagree that there are only two genders that proves it cannot truly be a 'fact.' If the shirt had said 'celebrate two genders' it would be a permissible expression of an opinion."

In related news, a 13-year-old girl was called "despicable" by her teacher at a Church of England school in the United Kingdom for asking a fellow student "How can you identify as a cat when you're a girl?"

If you missed any of the other Semi-News/Semi-Satire posts you can find them at...

https://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,503724.0.html


TOPICS: Education; Humor; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: gaypride; postandrun; protectedclass; satire; selfpromotion; transgender

1 posted on 06/27/2023 10:33:38 AM PDT by John Semmens
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: John Semmens

“Because there are people who would disagree that there are only two genders that proves it cannot truly be a ‘fact.’ “

We’re talking off-the-charts idiocy spewing forth from this judge.


2 posted on 06/27/2023 10:44:12 AM PDT by william clark (A man who is unwilling to be proven wrong has little regard for truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: william clark

I’ve never understood ‘Semi News - Semi Satire’.

Does it mean real news that’s so crazy it seems like satire? or real news they’ve tweaked somewhat to make it satirical?


3 posted on 06/27/2023 10:47:19 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Jamestown1630

Yeah, by the time I got deeper into the story, I’d forgotten the source, so it may well be that I’d wandered into the satirical area. Of course, when covering leftist “reasoning,” satire becomes increasingly difficult to detect.


4 posted on 06/27/2023 10:53:07 AM PDT by william clark (A man who is unwilling to be proven wrong has little regard for truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: william clark; Jamestown1630

The censorship is real. The rationales for it are idiotic and tyrannical.

I merely clarified the more opaque statements made by those who seek to oppress freedom of speech. This clarification is the “satire.”


5 posted on 06/27/2023 11:05:45 AM PDT by John Semmens
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: John Semmens

Thanks.


6 posted on 06/27/2023 11:10:09 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: william clark

Unreal. So when a person thinks they’re a cat, I can’t say there’s no such thing as a “human cat”? You have delusions and you have FACTS.

Besides, the 1A is specifically protection from authorities retaliating against the ‘mocking of them’. I believe he has a lawsuit. Since when is free speech curtailed because it mocks authority?


7 posted on 06/27/2023 12:15:52 PM PDT by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: John Semmens

I remember when the courts ruled it was free speech when neo Nazis openly marched in Skokie, IL waving swastika flags. Now stating a biological fact on a t-shirt needs to be repressed.


8 posted on 06/27/2023 12:50:23 PM PDT by The Great RJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fuzzylogic
So when a person thinks they’re a cat, I can’t say there’s no such thing as a “human cat”?
I can dig that. I identify as a walrus 🎶gu gu ka choob🎶🤪🤪😜🤪
9 posted on 06/27/2023 12:59:48 PM PDT by Impala64ssa (81 million votes my ass!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson