Lydia Booth just wanted to share the love of Jesus with everyone around her by wearing her beloved "Jesus Loves Me" mask to school.
She said of the mask, "It makes me feel like I'm protected by Jesus. And it makes me think people will think it's a great mask, and that Jesus is a great God, and a great Savior."
As earlier reported by ADF, Lydia's mask drew the attention of school administrators, but not in the manner she had hoped.
The school, instead, wanted Lydia's "Jesus Loves Me" mask replaced with another, naming a school regulation that banned masks with political or religious statements. Lydia's mother, Jennifer, went through the handbook and the dress code, and she spoke with a few other parents, but she couldn't find the guidelines that prohibited Lydia from wearing the mask to school.
In contrast, several youngsters donned masks with college insignia, sports team emblems and the phrase "Black Lives Matter," but were not prohibited from doing so.
Administrators at the school, on the other hand, were unfazed. Lydia would be disciplined if she donned the mask to school again.
As a result, the Booth family contacted Alliance Defending Freedom, which initiated a lawsuit on Lydia's behalf against the school district.
ADF reminded the school system of their duty to uphold its students' constitutional rights. It said that the school "can't pick and choose which messages students are allowed to express and which they aren't. And they certainly can't single out religious speech for worse treatment than other types of speech."
"If masks expressing other beliefs and views are allowed, then 'Jesus Loves Me' should be allowed as well," added the American conservative Christian nonprofit advocacy group.
Nonetheless, God is using Lydia's challenge to impact the lives of other children, inspiring responses from her classmates.
Lydia's classmate saw her mask and requested one like it. The older sister of another friend resolved to study the whole Bible after hearing about the case.
Two sisters, according to ADF, wrote her "heartwarming and encouraging notes."
"It's powerful for my kids to see other kids being a witness for Christ and even living through some persecution for it," wrote their mom.
How It Began
On October 13, the administrator of Simpson Central School approached Lydia Booth and informed her that she could no longer wear her "Jesus Loves Me" facemask. Lydia was said to have worn the mask multiple times at school. The little girl, heartbroken, could only inform her parents about the incident.
Jennifer Booth, the mother, said that the school answered that the wordings on her daughter's mask was a breach of school policy. Booth, however, couldn't find it on the list of regulations. The school's superintendent then informed her that the mask is a breach of their policy, which prohibits masks with "political, religious, or inappropriate emblems."
The report, on the other hand, found that the school had purportedly utilized the policy change as a pretext to justify the prohibition and not to respond to Lydia's concern.
The parents of Lydia consented to pursue an ADF complaint. Their commitment to continue is a battle not just for their daughter, but for the next generation of young Christians. All of their patience is finally paying off seeing Lydia's impact on today's young believers.
