A Canadian teenager suspended from his Catholic high school for opposing transgender ideology has filed a human rights complaint alleging that he was subject to religious discrimination.
Josh Alexander, 17, was suspended from St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew, Ontario, in November and issued a trespass notice for organizing a student walkout against biological males being allowed in girls’ bathrooms.
Last week, attorney James Kitchen with Liberty Coalition Canada filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal over the suspension.
“Josh believes he is called by the Lord Jesus Christ to proclaim the truth which includes telling those around him about the Lord’s design for gender and to openly oppose the School Board’s policy of permitting males to enter the girls’ washrooms,” the complaint said. “Josh believes he would commit a sin if he disregarded the Lord’s calling on his life and remained silent.”
Fox News reports, “The complaint recounts that students erupted during a math class when Alexander argued against the school’s bathroom policy. When he claimed that men have penises and women have vaginas, his classmates reportedly called him a ‘misogynist,’ a ‘racist,’ and a ‘homophobic transphobe,’ while the teacher allegedly ‘nodded and gestured at the students yelling at Josh, indicating his approval of the students’ name-calling.'”
“Alexander was ultimately suspended and told that his continued attendance would be detrimental to the physical and mental well-being of transgender students, the complaint says,” the report explained. “His suspension was technically lifted in January but has effectively continued after the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board ‘excluded’ him for the rest of the school year.”
Principal Derek Lennox allegedly told Alexander that he could return to school only if he stopped using the “dead names” of transgender classmates and avoid being in their classes.
On February 6, Alexander attempted to return to school and was arrested for violating the trespassing order.
I have just been arrested and charged at my Catholic highschool for attending class after being excluded for indicating my intent to adhere to my religious beliefs. pic.twitter.com/vTkaSoTnFp
— Josh Alexander (@officialJosh_A) February 6, 2023
Alexander has attempted to appeal, but the school board declined to hear it.
“Kicking Josh out of school for expressing his Christian beliefs regarding sexuality and gender is unlawful religious discrimination,” Liberty Coalition Canada said in a statement provided to Fox News. “The application details the shockingly discriminatory conduct of teachers and students at St. Joseph’s, as well as Principal Lennox’s retaliatory decisions to suspend and exclude Josh for expressing his beliefs and organizing a student walk-out to protest St. Joseph’s policy of permitting biological males to enter and use the girls’ washrooms.”
“Among other things, Josh is seeking from the HRTO a declaration that the School Board discriminated against him on the basis of his Christian beliefs,” the statement continued.
