Teen suspended for opposing trans ideology files human rights complaint: ‘Shockingly discriminatory’
Fox News
A lawyer for a Canadian teenager who was suspended from his Catholic high school after opposing transgender ideology has filed a human rights complaint alleging religious discrimination.
Attorney James Kitchen with Liberty Coalition Canada filed the application to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal last week on behalf of his client Josh Alexander, 17, a junior who was first suspended from St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew, Ontario, and issued a trespass notice in November.
Alexander drew the ire of school leadership when he organized a student walkout at the public Catholic high school against biological males in girls’ bathrooms, according to the complaint. He also reportedly argued in class that God created two unchangeable genders.
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. 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 would allow him to return to school only if the teen stopped using the “dead name,” or given name, of transgender students and avoided attending classes with two transgender students, according to the complaint. When he attempted to return to school on Feb. 6, he was arrested for allegedly violating the exclusion order.
The school board has declined to hear Alexander’s appeal regarding the suspension, arguing that he has not withdrawn from parental control despite being provided affidavit evidence to the contrary, according to a letter sent to Kitchen in January.
Kitchen also filed an application at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last week to compel the school board to hear his client’s appeal.
“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 Digital. “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.”
CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ARRESTED AFTER SUSPENSION FOR OPPOSING TRANS IDEOLOGY
“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 coalition added. The school did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The complaint points out that Alexander describes himself as a Christian and has protested transgender ideology because of his faith.
“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.”
Kitchen told Fox News Digital in February that he believes freedom of religion and freedom of expression are in steep decline in Canada, but noted that religious liberty is evaporating more quickly. He said many Canadians do not understand the gravity of the threat their government increasingly poses to religious freedom, which he said is “essentially dead” after withering “for about 10 or 15 years.”