According to his lawyer, Josh Alexander, the Canadian teenager who was suspended from his school for opposing the transgender ideology, has filed a human rights complaint alleging there was religious discrimination against him. That lawyer, James Kitchen of Liberty Coalition Canada, apparently filed the human rights complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal earlier in April.
That complaint argues that Alexander was punished for expressing his deeply held religious beliefs, saying, “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. Josh believes he would commit a sin if he disregarded the Lord’s calling on his life and remained silent.”
As background, 17-year-old Josh Alexander was suspended from St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew, Ontario in November. His suspension came after he organized a student walkout at the Catholic high school when the school allowed biological males in female restrooms. He also drew the ire of St. Joseph’s by arguing that God created two unchangeable genders.
He was suspended from the school with the school claiming that his continued attendance would be detrimental to the physical and mental well-being of transgender students. Though his suspension was lifted in January, he was “excluded” by the local school board for the rest of the year. He attempted to return to school in early February and was arrested for violating that exclusion 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
Liberty Coalition Canada, in a statement provided to Fox News Digital, said, “Kicking Josh out of school for expressing his Christian beliefs regarding sexuality and gender is unlawful religious discrimination. 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.”
Continuing, Liberty Coalition Canada also said, “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.”
Commenting on the situation at the time he was arrested, Mr. Alexander skewered the woke idea of suppression of free speech to stop people from being “offended,” saying that “offence is obviously defined by the offended.” In his words:
“Offence is obviously defined by the offended. I expressed my religious beliefs in class and it spiraled out of control. 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.”
Similarly, his lawyer characterized the school’s accusations of bullying as absurd to reasonable people, saying:
“Obviously, he doesn’t actually bully them as that term would be defined by … reasonable people. He’s not going to seek them out and call them names and make fun of them. But he does express his views about what these people say and about what they believe and about what they’re doing. And he expresses them online, and he expresses them in the class.”
Featured image credit: Liberty Coalition Canada
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