Honk News (New York City, NY) – A New York mother is pursuing legal action following an incident where her middle school son was reportedly disciplined for expressing the belief that there are two genders.
A complaint has been lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, revealing that “A.B.,” a middle school student at East Aurora Middle School, faced a five-day suspension in March. The suspension was reportedly linked to his expression of the belief that there are only two genders.
A recent court document reveals that a comment made by A.B. in November went unaddressed, with neither the mother nor the student being named in the filing. According to the complaint, A.B. received a disciplinary notice in March that ambiguously charged him with “violent conduct,” and his earlier remarks regarding gender were referenced as a justification for his punishment.
A.B. allegedly did not interfere with school operations or direct his gender comment at any particular person, according to the filing.
A.B. faces charges for allegedly breaching the student code of conduct, which forbids speech that “demeans” or “denigrates” others “if it presents a reasonable foreseeable risk of disruption.”
“The Defendants’ claim that A.B.’s words constituted ‘violence’ was a pretext to justify retaliation against him for expressing a viewpoint that school officials disfavored,” the complaint states.
A lawsuit has been filed against the school and district, alleging retaliation against the student’s First Amendment rights and a violation of his right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment.
The allegations suggest that school authorities acted out of a desire for retribution against the student’s remarks, which were made months prior, following President Donald Trump’s January executive order acknowledging “two sexes, male and female.”
“So here you’ve got an educational institution that still wants to charge a kid for saying what the President of the United States has now said is the official government policy of the United States,” the mother’s lawyer, R. Anthony Rupp III, told Buffalo News.
Rupp indicated in the report that the district is pursuing an extended suspension for the student’s remark regarding gender, along with two additional comments made by the student that are not detailed in the lawsuit.
The legal representatives of the mother are pursuing compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and a request for school officials to erase any disciplinary records associated with A.B.’s protected speech.
An unnamed parent from East Aurora Middle School, referred to as “J.S.,” has lodged a complaint on behalf of her minor child, “A.B.” The complaint names Principal Matthew Brown and Superintendent Brian Russ as defendants in the case.