A Grade 11 Ontario student who served a long suspension for opposing transgender ideologies has been barred from school again before he could return..Josh Alexander, a student at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School, in Renfrew, led a student walkout and protest last November over biological males entering female washrooms..A press release by Liberty Coalition Canada, who is providing legal services for Alexander, said he was suspended “because he has expressed his belief, during class debates and on social media, that there are only two genders, that students cannot switch between genders, and that male students should not be permitted into the girls’ bathroom.”.Alexander was suspended November 23 through December 20, but school officials said he could return to classes January 9 if he abided by conditions..He would not be allowed in classes attended by transgender students, which were two of the four he would otherwise attend. He was also barred from using the “dead name” of the students (that matches their birth identity), and would have to limit contact with them..LCC Chief Litigator James Kitchen has appealed Alexander’s suspension. He also emailed St. Joseph’s principal Derek Lennox to demand that Alexander be allowed to attend all classes and speak according to his convictions, especially since he was being barred from two of his four daily classes. .“Under the guise of ‘safety’, those who oppose Mr. Alexander’s views regarding gender seek to censor, publicly humiliate, and exclude him…" Kitchen wrote..“Mr. Alexander…will not, and cannot, due to his sincere religious beliefs, knowingly speak a falsehood, such as acknowledging the fiction that people can change from male to female (or vice-versa) or can change to some other invented gender altogether…".“No reasonable person would conclude Mr. Alexander poses any risk whatsoever to transgender students. He will not — as he has not — seek out these students in social settings or during non-class time. However, if he is required to refer to these students during class, he will not, while making every attempt to be respectful, refer to a student in a way that acknowledges a purported gender change or the adoption of a gender that does not exist. The same applies if a teacher attempts to create a scenario to trap Mr. Alexander, which is possible based on the hostility of some teachers toward Mr. Alexander.”.Subsequent email exchanges between Kitchen and Lennox were shared with the Western Standard. Lennox said the school’s conditions had not changed, and Kitchen said his client’s demands hadn’t either. Finally, the principal emailed Kitchen Sunday evening to say Alexander couldn’t come to school after all..“I am very concerned with your threat that ‘there will likely be an unfortunate and unnecessary conflict tomorrow, as Mr. Alexander's position as communicated in my letter to you of January 6 also remains unchanged’. In the circumstances, you leave me no option but…to exclude Josh from St. Joseph’s Catholic H.S. on the basis that his presence in the school or classroom would be detrimental to the physical or mental well-being of the pupils. As noted in the Education Act, Josh does have the right to appeal…." Lennox wrote.. “The exclusion is temporary, is not a disciplinary measure, and that this decision was taken with considerable thought and caution, taking into account the current circumstances, Josh’s rights and those of other students.”.The right to disagree with transgender perspectives is lost on many students and teachers, Kitchen said..“They've been brainwashed enough… [that] they honestly receive or perceive what Josh says as hate. Just how they think, love means letting me into the girls’ bathroom, even though you're uncomfortable, and I'm a boy.”.Kitchen said Alexander has demonstrated maturity and that he understands the significance of his actions..“Whether it's science, or biology, or climate change, or whatever, we're in this shift to this society based on lies and falsehoods, and just whoever has the most power, and there is no truth,” Kitchen said..“If we're going to arrest the switch or possibly reverse it, it's only because you've got these brave people of any age who value truth and have principles and are willing to make sacrifices to stand on them." .“And if you don't defend these people, then you just continue that slide…to…the weird, totalitarian dystopia where truth doesn't matter or might is right.”
