A Catholic student in Canada has been forbidden from attending school for the rest of the year after he expressed his belief in the Biblical truth that there are only two genders.
On Wednesday, The Epoch Times reported that 16-year-old Josh Alexander, who attends St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Renfrew, Ontario, was told that he would be removed from school for continuing to express his religious beliefs, saying that his presence would be “detrimental to the physical and mental well-being” of transgender students.
Last November, Alexander organized a protest at the school against transgender students being allowed to use the girls’ locker room. He was suspended for this as well as for saying in class that there are only two genders.
When his suspension ended in January, the principal said that he would be “excluded” from the school for the rest of the year and that it could possibly extend into next year.
Now, Alexander and his lawyers are bringing the matter before an Ontario human rights tribunal, arguing that this constitutes religious discrimination.
“Offence is obviously defined by the offended. I expressed my religious beliefs in class and it spiraled out of control,” Alexander told the Epoch Times. “Not everybody’s going to like that. That doesn’t make me a bully. It doesn’t mean I’m harassing anybody. They express their beliefs and I express mine. Mine obviously don’t fit the narrative.”
His lawyer, James Kitchen, also disputed the school’s claim that he was “bullying” transgender students, saying that he was “not going to seek them out and call them names and make fun of them,” but that he was merely going to express his opinion.
Clearly, this is a massive case of religious discrimination and another example of the war on truth. But at this point, it is hardly surprising.
Alexander, as a Catholic, is absolutely correct in holding fast to the Biblical view of gender and sexuality.
He is in no way harming his transgender classmates by expressing his religious beliefs.
While such punitive action against a religious student is expected from public schools or woke private schools, it is especially disappointing that this is coming from a Catholic school, which, one would think, would be concerned with teaching and defending the truths of the faith.
Perhaps St. Joseph’s would do well to take a page from the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, where the bishop laid out clear guidelines for Catholic educators saying that they are to adhere to the Scriptures when dealing with transgender students.
Alas, it’s highly doubtful that St. Joseph’s will follow that model.
This is, after all a school in Canada, and Canada is, quite frankly, no longer a free nation after what we’ve seen from the country in the past couple of years.
Under the dictatorial leadership of Justin Trudeau, Canada had some of the most authoritarian restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his government threatened punitive action against truckers who drove to Ottowa in a convoy to protest his tyrannical vaccine mandate.
In addition, Trudeau’s government has also come down hard on citizens’ rights to own firearms, forcing them to surrender so-called “assault weapons” and now banning the buying and selling of handguns in the country.
In a country that is still free, none of this would happen. There would never be these authoritarian laws, and a Catholic student like Josh Alexander would still be free to express his beliefs.
But, Canada is no longer a free country and that tyranny has seeped into this Catholic school.
Canada has fully submitted to the tyranny of woke-ism. Josh Alexander’s plight makes that crystal clear.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.