Third-Grader Told to Remove “Jesus Loves Me” Face Mask | Todd Starnes

Tyson Langhofer, ADF senior counsel, told the Todd Starnes Radio Show Thursday the school district engaged in “viewpoint discrimination” by singling out Lydia Booth in October while allowing other students to wear “Black Lives Matter” masks.

Lydia’s parents told ADF: “We are proud of our daughter. She wanted to express her faith. We felt like we had to stand up for her when she was told she couldn’t express her faith like she was somehow a second-class citizen simply because she wanted to express a religious message and others a secular message.”

The youngster was saddened on Oct. 13, when her principal at Simpson Central School pulled her aside and said she could no longer wear her “Jesus Loves Me” mask, which she’d worn several times.

Her mom, Jennifer Booth, was told the mask violated school policy because it had words on it, but Booth noticed it wasn’t in the policy. The superintendent then told her it violated their policy banning masks with political, religious, or inappropriate symbols.

The school allegedly changed its policy to justify the move and refused to accommodate Lydia, according to ADF.

“We were forced to file a lawsuit in order to just allow this third-grader to just express this positive message to the students around her that Jesus loves me,” Langhofer said.

ADF filed a federal lawsuit against the Simpson County School District.

“Apparently they believe religious messages in class or in schools are inappropriate, but they allowed other masks with all kinds of other messages on it,” the ADF lawyer told Starnes. “If you allow others to express messages on their masks, you have to allow people to express religious messages.”