In considering whether it is acceptable to wear a T-shirt to public school espousing the message that there are only two genders, Jeff Jacoby believes that free speech dictates equal treatment for both sides of political issues and that, consequently, schools ought to allow such a shirt (“The seventh-grader and the First Amendment,” Opinion, Feb. 14). The fallacy of Jacoby’s argument arises when a political position overlaps human rights issues, as it does in this case.
A shirt inscription such as Black Lives Matter is not equivalent to one that might say “Black lives don’t matter,” a statement that dehumanizes Black people; a shirt with the inscription “I stand against antisemitism” is not equivalent to a shirt that says, “I stand for antisemitism,” a statement that dehumanizes Jews; and a shirt that inscribes support for gender fluidity is not equivalent to the one in the case of a Middleborough middle-school student that says, “There are only two genders,” a statement that dehumanizes those who don’t align with a single sex.
As a separate, but relevant, comment, gender is how one views oneself (contrary to one’s sex), and so one’s gender, in whatever form it takes, can be established only by and for oneself.
Karl Kuban
Plymouth
Jeff Jacoby’s column about Liam Morrison makes a flawed argument about different statements regarding gender identity. The existence of LGBTQ individuals is not “a debatable issue” except for people who perpetuate continued marginalization and discrimination. A shirt saying “He she they, it’s all okay” is expressing an opinion that some people prefer not to accept, but it is not attacking those people. Rather, it is saying that we should all coexist peacefully. Contrary to what Jacoby claims, a shirt saying “There are only two genders” is, in fact, a direct attack, since, on a fundamental level, it denies the very right of some of Liam’s fellow students to exist.
George Stephans
Arlington