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Today’s blacklisted American: HS student sues after being punished for saying there are only two genders

No free speech allowed at Exeter High School in New Hampshire.
No free speech allowed at Exeter High School in New Hampshire.
Photo: Austin Blake Grant

They’re coming for you next: A freshman student from Exeter High School in New Hampshire is suing his school district and assistant principal for suspending him from one football game because he had stated his Catholic belief that there are only two genders in a text message exchange with another student.

The boy’s name is at this point being withheld, with the lawsuit being handled by his attorney, Ian Huyett of Cornerstone Action, a Christian advocacy group focused on New Hampshire issues.

The lawsuit alleges the student received a one-game suspension in September in violation of his constitutional right to free speech and the New Hampshire Bill of Rights because he expressed what the suit called his Catholic belief there are “only two genders,” male and female.

Cornerstone is seeking nominal damages against SAU 16 and EHS Assistant Principal Marcy Dovholuk. The lawsuit also aims to prohibit the school district from enforcing its policy pertaining to gender-nonconforming students. The school district policy, Cornerstone claims, penalizes students who, because of their religious beliefs, refuse to address non-binary students with their chosen pronouns to describe their gender identity.

“(The student) does not deny that he violated the Gender Nonconforming Students policy,” 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.’ … (The student) 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.”

Under the high school’s policy, a “student has the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that corresponds to the student’s gender identity.” It also contains a provision that states, “the intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student’s gender identity … is a violation of this policy.” [emphasis mine]

As indicated by highlighted sentence, the school’s policy is a clear violation of this student’s first amendment rights, as stated not only in the U.S. Bill of Rights but also in New Hampshire’s Bill of Rights. It demands he speak in only one manner, and punishes him if he dissents.

What makes the school’s thuggish punishment even more oppressive is that the student was punished for something he said in a text during an off-campus conversation initiated by another student. He wasn’t even at school, and yet the school now demands the right to police his speech twenty-four hours, seven days a week.

The real tragedy of this story is how common it has become. The left, which dominates government and educational bureaucracies everywhere, is not interested in a free and open debate. You will obey them mindlessly, and if you dare to disagree, they will move immediately to squash you like a bug.

We are in terrible times. To fight this tyranny is going to require more people to have the courage of this student. He is standing up for his right to say what he believes, and is willing to fight hard for that right, no matter the consequences.

And just because you yourself haven’t been attacked yet doesn’t mean you can ignore this battle. These thugs will soon be at your door, demanding you bow to them for any reason they can make up. The only real choice you have is to fight them now, when the battle is easier, or later, when your options will be even more constrained.

You don’t have the choice not to fight, even if you are leftist in your beliefs. It isn’t really politics that drive this oppression, but the lust for power. Such lust cares not one iota for any philosophy or political ideas, no matter which side. They are coming for conservatives, Republicans, and Christians now. Soon, they will come for leftists, Democrats, and the atheists, should any of those decide at any point to challenge their power.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

4 comments

  • wayne

    “John Cleese ‘cancelled himself’ to protest ‘woke’ university”
    Sky News Australia November 14, 2021
    https://youtu.be/PLCYKCpLmmk
    3:13

    “Comedy icon John Cleese “cancelled himself” to protest the blacklisting of art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon by the Cambridge University debating society, says Sky News host Chris Smith….”

  • An Observation

    The actions of the school officials are a federal felony: (18 US Code 241 Conspiracy to oppress Constitutional rights) on the part of the school officials. Sadly the corrupt DOJ refuses to prosecute anyone under that law for conspiring to oppress any of the rights listed in the Bill of Rights. Ask your lawyer how to bypass such prosecutors to directly obtain an indictment from a grand jury, because such a path does exist. You are not powerless, the government simply wants you to think you are.

  • David Telford

    Whatever happened to just saying, “you’re wrong”, and leaving it at that? Even if “you’re” isn’t wrong and the accuser is. Handle it then and there and personally. Punishments and lawyers? Who does that sort of thing? “Man up”, we would have once said.

  • Max

    The article said;
    “he had stated his Catholic belief that there are only two genders in a text message exchange with another student”

    Discussing the religious dogma of a church does not constitute personal liability for a set of ancient and standardized religious beliefs, unless that individual miss represented the churches excepted position. Stating facts, even if they are offensive, are not punishable.

    Unfortunately… In today’s snowflake world, killing the offensive messenger is too gratifying.

    Any and every excuse is used to bully, blacklist, and eventually burn at the stake any different individual for any reason as long as it is gratifying. Bloodlust, once experienced, encourages more aggressive action for a person, who is dead inside and unhappy, to feel alive. (similar to thrill seekers)

    The opportunity of victimizing a child, with no means to defend themselves, is unfortunately a common practice. Because the victimizer feels powerful, totally in control, safe to do so.
    To take advantage in a position of trust is nothing short of evil… Church doctrine above all else, represents the opposite and a hindrance to this evil. People in powerful positions don’t like to hear resistance or opposition, “You can’t do that” makes them angry… As Joe Biden said, “I’m losing patience” (reminds me of the old movies where the vampire is hindered by a cross around the victims neck) True power is to destroy someone without consequence!

    Sometimes you just got a throw a cog into the works to bring the machinery to a stop. (Sabotage)

    Have the young man claim to be “bisexual”
    As in the classic “two sexes”. (redefine the language)
    The school will have to stop, and ban the B from LBGTQ for being “binary” in a rainbow world… it will set off a firestorm in the community.

    There are only a few combinations of human jeans. Only 2 can procreate successfully. The majority of the worlds lifeforms are similar, from a science perspective, it is madness or fantasy to make believe the world into something it is not… Especially when it is patterned after your own chaotic mind. (No two minds are alike, you can claim that everyone’s point of view is valid, but in the outcome, you still end up burning the witches)

    To claim a different sex for every personal perversion in a kaleidoscope fashion and pretend to make sense of the chaos is not fathomable. (it is argued that no two people are alike, that there is a different preferred trigger that causes/ facilitates a sexual orgasm which is being used to determine one’s “identity box”… Can you imagine a different sexual category for every single one?

    America works because of the “rule of law” that all men are created equal and justice is blind.
    “Equal opportunity” is not “equal outcome”… We all benefit as employees from those who rise above the rest. With equal outcome, no one is permitted to rise… We become stagnant and unproductive. The only thing equal will be our misery.
    “Misery loves company”, and there is a lot of miserable people out there that are bereft of hope, some commit suicide… Others turn to violence to burn it all down! And go out with a bang! The current administration is doing an excellent job of just that.
    Sorry Wayne, I’m rambling. I enjoy your posts as well.

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