A lawyer for Liberty Coalition Canada says a Grade 11 Ontario student is modelling the courage and conviction Canadians need to save their country..James Kitchen is representing Josh Alexander who was barred from St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew Ontario for refusing to be silent on his convictions there are only two genders, that students cannot switch between genders, and male students should not be permitted into the girls’ bathroom..“He's not giving up. Now we’ve got this trespass charge because he wouldn't leave the school. And the school wanted to get rid of him. It's really, really crazy,” Kitchen told the Western Standard..“This has been going on for years. It's just nobody is willing to take the risks that Josh has to stand up to. No student actually said, 'I'm going to weigh my education on the line because this is wrong.' And somebody has to say, you can bully me, and you can suspend me and you can arrest me and you can do whatever you want to destroy my education, but I'm not backing down.’”.Alexander was suspended 20 days before the Christmas break, but was told he could return so long as he did not attend two classes that included transgendered students. Kitchen communicated to the principal and school board that Alexander would not abide by these conditions. As a result, he was banned..“Every other time a person backs down, whether it's a university student, high school student, employee at a corporation, everybody else has backed down. And that's why you can you continue to have all this bullying and silencing and censorship of anybody that opposes the woke nonsense on transgenderism. This kid has said no, and the school board doesn't know what to do with it,” Kitchen explained..“The only tool they have is enforcement, enforcement, enforcement — keep pounding him over the head until he finally cries out for mercy. But this kid’s too tough, right? And I'm too tough. So, neither one of us are backing down.”.The Halton School Board dug in its heels to defend a biological male teacher wearing large fake breasts, only to face national scorn. Kitchen believes something of the same is happening in Renfrew..“All they're doing is making a national disgrace of themselves because the only tool they know is bully, bully, bully, bully bully. Meanwhile, they’re turning around saying the bully is the kid who's been kicked out of school for peacefully expressing his religious beliefs,” Kitchen said..“It's really captured the interest of the whole nation apparently. It is interesting to watch someone who is so principled and so brave. And no matter what threat you throw at him, no matter what punishment you give him, he just stands there and says, ‘I can take it because truth is on my side. And I'm just going to keep going.’ And that's what we got. And it's a really fascinating situation.”.The irony of a Catholic school barring a student for insisting on beliefs consistent with Catholic perspectives is not lost on Kitchen..“I don't get that. That has been a common thing amongst the Catholics that I've seen for several years now. I don't know what they're scared of, but they really are quite timid, and I don't get it. Technically, the Catholic schools don't answer to the Church, right? They get their government money, and they can do whatever they want. I think the church feels like if we're going to keep any influence over them, we have to not wield a heavy stick. That's just a guess, I really don't know. I'm not a Catholic. As a Protestant, I'm left scratching my head,” he said..“Actual doctrine is two genders, male and female. You can't switch between them. You can't be anything else — penises should not be in the girls’ washrooms. Like, this is pretty obvious, pretty benign Catholic doctrine.”.Kitchen said many of the parents and students side with Alexander, but others do not..“I'd say a slim majority either are true believers of wokeism, or just go along with it because they don't really understand it. It seems like it's too dangerous not to. But there is a significant, large minority who truly do believe with him and are concerned about this. They know it's wrong, know it's not scientific, know it's bad for society, know it's bad for their kids, know, it's bad for themselves,” Kitchen said..“There are a lot of girls, I know, that are quietly thankful for what he's doing because they don't feel like they can stand up for themselves. And they are they're tired of holding their pee all day to go home because they're too scared to go to the bathroom. Those stories are out there.”.Unless something changes, Alexander will be forced to study at home. Kitchen said he is a “pretty bright kid” who “cares about his education” but for the moment his focus is to speak while people are listening..“He is a bit of an activist. Before he did this, he was big into trying to get mandatory masks out of school. He really does care about the issue. He really cares about protecting girls and about getting the truth out about there really are only two genders and you can't switch. And when you try to [switch], you really don't make your life better, you make it worse. Ask anybody who’s detransitioned. This isn't good for girls, their privacy and their security and safety,” Kitchen said..“He's hot stuff right now, so everybody wants to hear him speak. And so he's going around to these events and trying to encourage people to have bravery like him, to stand up to this and to talk about the issue and to make it less taboo. Unfortunately, it's become really taboo to say, 'hey, well, there are only two genders," and you can't switch, because if you do that, of course, these days, you lose your job or whatever..“He's trying to encourage people to be brave, and to talk about it, and to save these teenagers from a life of misery and chemical dependence, and to save all the girls from having to deal with men in their bathrooms in their sports. He's going around trying to talk about that issue and use the platform he's been given to raise awareness about this. That's what he's been busy doing that the last week or so..“I think it's good. This is the right time for him to play the activist because this is when people are listening.”.In Kitchen’s view, an appropriate balance of rights and accommodation would let everyone have their view, speak their opinions, and make their own choices..“When it comes down to it, fine, you want to believe in all this nonsense, it's a free country. Go ahead, but stop imposing it on everybody else," he said.."If you want to believe you can change a gender, that's fine, but keep your penis out of the girls’ washroom. Stop imposing yourself on girls. Stop kicking out Christians who disagree with what you say because you're just too much of a snowflake to listen to something you disagree with. That's segregation. That's intolerance. It's not equality. It's not diversity. Let's have a balancing of rights where everybody is actually equal and we actually respect everybody's rights, not just those who have the woke mob supporting them.".“I'm not saying that people can't be transgender. Believe whatever nonsense you want. They will say the same thing. They will say, ‘Well, look, that's Christian nonsense. You shouldn't be allowed to believe it.’ You can think it's nonsense, but you need to let them believe it. That's what tolerance and diversity and equality actually is. You disagree with something, but you let somebody say it and do it anyways..“The problem here is the transgender people are the intolerant ones. Meanwhile, they're crying for people to tolerate that, but they can't tolerate those who disagree.”
