A lawyer for a Canadian teenager who was suspended from his Catholic high school after defying transgender ideology has filed a human rights lawsuit alleging religious discrimination.
Attorney James Kitchen of Liberty Coalition Canada filed a motion with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal last week on behalf of his client Josh Alexander, 17, a junior first suspended from St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew, Ontario, and filed a Trespassing notice out in November.
Alexander drew the ire of school officials when he organized a student strike against biological males in girls’ bathrooms at the public Catholic high school, according to the complaint. He also reportedly argued in class that God created two immutable genders.
The complaint said students erupted during a math class when Alexander argued against the school’s toilet policy. When he claimed men had penises and women had vaginas, his classmates reportedly called him a “misogynist,” a “racist,” and a “homophobic transphobe,” while the teacher reportedly “nodded and pointed at the students who were yelling at Josh, um.” to indicate his consent to the attribution of the students’ names.”
YOUTH ATTORNEY SUSPENDED AFTER TRANS-IDEOLOGY COUNTRY DECLARATION SAYS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN CANADA ‘ESSENTIALLY DEAD’.
High school junior Josh Alexander is appealing to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal after he was allegedly suspended from his Catholic school for speaking out against transgenderism. (Liberty Coalition Canada)
Alexander was eventually suspended and told his continued participation would be detrimental to the physical and mental well-being of transgender students, the complaint said. His suspension was technically lifted in January, but was effectively continued after the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board “disfellowshipped” him for the remainder of the school year.
Principal Derek Lennox would only allow him to return to school if the teen stopped using the “dead name” or first names of transgender students and avoided classes with two transgender students, the complaint said. When he tried to return to school on February 6, he was arrested for allegedly violating the expulsion order.
The school board declined to hear Alexander’s appeal regarding the suspension, arguing that he did not opt out of parental control despite documentary evidence to the contrary, according to a letter sent to Kitchen in January.
Kitchen filed a motion in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last week to compel the school board to hear his client’s appeal.
“Throwing Josh out of school for expressing his Christian beliefs regarding sexuality and gender is unlawful religious discrimination,” Liberty Coalition Canada said in a statement made available to Fox News Digital. “The motion details the shockingly discriminatory behavior of teachers and students at St Joseph’s, as well as Principal Lennox’s retaliatory decisions to suspend and expel Josh for expressing his beliefs and organizing a student strike to oppose St Joseph’s policies to protest allowing biological males to enter and use the girls’ washrooms.”
Catholic high school student arrested after suspension for rejecting trans ideology
“Among other things, Josh is asking HRTO to explain that the school board discriminated against him because of his Christian beliefs,” the coalition added. The school did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The complaint indicates that Alexander identified himself as a Christian and protested against transgender ideology because of his beliefs.
“Josh believes he is called of the Lord Jesus Christ to declare the truth, which includes sharing the Lord’s design regarding gender with those around him and openly opposing the school board’s policy of allowing male entry to allow the girls’ washrooms,” the complaint reads. “Josh believes it would be a sin if he ignored the Lord’s call on his life and remained silent.”
Alexander was arrested in February after attempting to attend St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Renfrew, Ontario, following his suspension. (Google Maps)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Kitchen told Fox News Digital in February that he believes freedom of religion and expression is on the decline in Canada, but noted that freedom of religion is evaporating at a faster rate. He said many Canadians don’t understand the seriousness of the threat their government is increasingly posing to religious freedom, which he said is “essentially dead” after having withered “for about 10 or 15 years.”