Public School Faces Lawsuit Over Ban on Religious Masks
A Mississippi public school is facing a lawsuit for prohibiting a third-grader from wearing a mask that read “Jesus Loves Me.”
The religious liberty law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is suing Mississippi’s Simpson County School District because the school forced the third-grader, Lydia Booth, to remove a religious message from her face mask and retroactively changed its masking code.
When Booth’s mother asked for the specific policy that banned free expression on face masks, school officials responded with an updated copy of the school’s coronavirus plan that included a ban on religious messages—which had not been in the original plan.
The new policy prohibits messages on masks that are “political, religious, sexual or inappropriate symbols, gestures or statements that may be offensive, disruptive or deemed distractive to the school environment.”
ADF legal counsel Michael Ross said the school’s policy violates the First Amendment. “Officials simply can’t … arbitrarily pick and choose messages that students can or can’t express,” Ross said. “Other students within the school district have freely worn masks with the logos of local sports teams or even the words ‘Black Lives Matter.'” (Read more from “Public School Faces Lawsuit Over Ban on Religious Masks” HERE)
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