(RNS) A federal district court ordered a New York school district to permit a student to return to school after he was suspended for wearing a rosary.

Raymond Hosier, a 13-year-old seventh grader at Oneida Middle School in Schenectady, was suspended after refusing to remove a rosary that he wore to honor a deceased brother and uncle.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn issued a temporary restraining order against the school on Tuesday (June 1), allowing Hosier to attend school until another court hearing on June 11.

The Schenectady City School District stated that the religious beads violated the dress code and could be considered a gang-related symbol.

“They might as well suspend me for the rest of the year because I’m not taking them off,” Hosier told Albany’s WNYT when he was first suspended.

The American Center for Law and Justice, a Christian law firm that specializes in religious freedom cases, filed suit on behalf of Hosier and his mother against the school board and school officials. The organization argued that the punishment was unconstitutional and violated religious freedom.