A New Hampshire student-athlete and his mother are suing the school district after he was suspended from a football game for expressing his view that there are 'only two genders.'
The freshman student - only identified as M.P. in court documents - was discussing the difficulty of addressing a non-binary person in Spanish with his friends on the school bus when another student interjected to argue when M.P. replied, 'There are only genders.'
After the short discussion on the bus, the students engaged in a debate over gender and sexuality in text messages. Those messages were turned into school administrators who suspended M.P. for 'not respecting pronouns.'
The lawsuit filed on November 4 in Rockingham Superior Court, and obtained by DailyMail.com, said that the one-game suspension of the student in September was in violation of the student's constitutional right to free speech and the New Hampshire Bill of Rights because he expressed his religious Catholic beliefs.
The student is seeking nominal damages against what the lawsuit defines as New Hampshire School Administrative Unit 16 (SAU16) - a New Hampshire school district that includes Exeter High School in Exeter, Rockingham County - and Exeter High School Assistant Principal Marcy Dovholuk.
A New Hampshire student-athlete from Exeter High is suing his school district after he was suspended from a football game for expressing his view that there are 'only two genders'
M.P. is also aiming to stop Exeter High School from continuing to enforce its gender-nonconforming student's policy because of what he says is its infringement on his First Amendment rights.
M.P. and his mother are being represented by Ian Huyett of Cornerstone Action, a nonprofit Christian advocacy organization.
The student is seeking nominal damages against New Hampshire School Administrative Unit 16 (SAU16) and Exeter High School Assistant Principal Marcy Dovholuk, pictured
They believe the school district policy essentially penalizes students for their religious beliefs when they 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.'
The high school enacted a progressive policy in 2016 whereby a 'student has the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that corresponds to the student's gender identity.'
But the policy also contains a provision that the 'the intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student's gender identity is a violation of this policy.'
The lawsuit describes how a teacher in the student's Spanish class asked students to introduce themselves.
One student informed the class they considered themselves to be non-binary and wanted to be addressed by 'they' as a singular pronoun.
The student, known at M.P. wants Exeter High School to stop enforcing gender-nonconforming student’s policy The policy says that students have the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that relates to a student’s gender identity. Exeter High School cafeteria is pictured
The suit then details how M.P. later chatted with friends on the school bus over the complications of using third-person pronouns when referring to themselves in Spanish.
The third-person pronoun to refer to a group of men is 'ellos' but referring to a group of women it becomes 'ellas.'
The lawsuit details how a female student, identified as A.G., overheard the conversation and told the friends, There's more than two genders.'
To which M.P. responded, 'No there isn't: there's only two genders.'
The student now suing the school, was pulled out of class by Dovholuk and athletic director and varsity football coach, Bill Ball.
After M.P. got off the bus, he was texted by the student who had confronted him on the bus.
'She pressed M.P. on the topic of gender, demanding, "Give me one valid reason why there's only two genders,“' the lawsuit states. 'The two then had a contentious exchange of texts on the issue.'
The lawsuit states it was those texts, which were handed over to the school administration, that resulted in M.P.'s suspension for reportedly both failing to respect another student's gender pronouns and for 'inappropriate language' used in his texts, such as “bozo“ and 'stfu.“'
The student now suing the school, was pulled out of his early morning science class by Dovholuk and athletic director and varsity football coach, Bill Ball.
'Dovholuk and Ball stated that the texts showed that M.P. was 'not respecting pronouns' and that he needed to "respect how people identify,"' the lawsuit alleges.
Ball told him he was going to suspend him from playing football for one week but then reduced the ban to one game after his mother protested that M.P. had done nothing wrong. According to the complaint, the football coach replied, 'I know, but times are changing.'
The suspended student had been involved in conversations surrounding Spanish language pronouns on the bus home. Exeter High School computer lab and library is pictured
M.P. claims through the lawsuit that his punishment and using the school's policy for gender nonconforming students was a violation of his First Amendment rights and a violation of the New Hampshire Bill of Rights.
He also believes staff at the school did not have the authority to punish him because his text messages were from an off-campus conversation that was started by another student.
'Regardless of what defendants may think about these words, M.P. did not use profane or insulting language towards any person while in the school building, on a school bus, during school activities, or on school property in any of the events leading up to his athletic suspension and this case.'
DailyMail.com was directed to the superintendent when reaching the high school for a comment. The superintendent did not answer when reached via phone for a comment.
So far, the school has not commented on the case with SAU 16 Superintendent David Ryan issuing a brief statement.
'We are in the process of reviewing this complaint with legal counsel and will be able to share a statement once we have completed that review,' Ryan said.
Post a Comment