Student suspended for saying there are “only two genders” files lawsuit against school
By isabelle // 2021-11-21
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A New Hampshire teen has filed a lawsuit against his school district after he says he was suspended from sports for saying that only two genders exist. The student, who is a freshman at Exeter High School, said that he was given a one-game football suspension on account of a conversation he had with another student outside of school grounds via text message. The suit was filed by a lawyer with Cornerstone Action, a Christian advocacy non-profit organization. The school said that the student, who is being identified in court records by the initials M.P., violated a policy that says students have a right to be referred to using the name and pronoun of their choice and that those who do not recognize other students' chosen gender identities are violating the policy. The student’s lawsuit claims that the high school's policy infringes on his First Amendment rights. Although he has not denied violating the policy by stating his belief that there are only female and male genders, the legality of the policy itself is being called into question. The suspension was based on an incident in which M.P. was talking to a friend on the bus about using plural pronouns when referring to people in Spanish, which uses feminine and masculine plurals. When a female student heard the discussion, she reportedly told M.P. that there are more than two genders, to which he replied, “No there isn't: There's only two genders.” This discussion was continued in a text message conversation that school administrators somehow obtained in printed form and presented to him when they issued his suspension. It is unclear why the other student, who is said not to be transgendered, felt the need to turn over a copy of the conversation to the school’s vice principal. The lawsuit states: "He in fact denied, and will continue to deny, that any person can belong to a gender other than that of ‘male’ or ‘female’.” It added that he “will never refer to any individual person using plural pronouns such as ‘they,’ using contrived pronouns such as ‘ze,’ or with any similar terminology that reflects values which (the student) does not share.”

School’s leadership accused of ideological bias

Many parents have claimed that there is ideological bias among the school’s leadership. Last month, it was put on notice by the state when the office of the Commissioner for the New Hampshire Department of Education and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office issued a joint report on a series of concerns about the school involving violations of students’ rights. Among other problems, the school was found to have violated students’ rights by putting marks on their hands at the prom to denote their vaccination status. Because other school districts in New Hampshire have instituted similar policies regarding gender identity to those at Exeter High School, this case could have an impact throughout the state. A statement from Cornerstone said: “The key question before the court will be if Exeter’s Gender Nonconforming Students policy, nearly identical to the policy adopted by school districts across the state, can be used to suppress the free speech rights of students who hold dissenting views.” The statement added that he did not demean or harass any student and was simply sharing his opinion. It wouldn’t be surprising if the fact that the teen is a practicing Catholic has a lot to do with the school’s unreasonable response to his statement of a biological fact. M.P. was exercising his right to free speech by affirming the church’s teachings during a private conversation and should not have been punished for it. Sources for this article include: SentinelSource.com NYPost.com NHJournal.com
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