Good for this young man to stand up.
This Catholic school says they’re taking a “pastoral” approach to the trans issue, which means they’re turning their backs on Jesus in order to please their cultural elites.
Josh Alexander, 16, is not allowed to attend school for the rest of the year after saying he would continue to express his belief that God created only two genders. The school told him his presence would be “detrimental to the physical and mental well-being” of transgender students, Alexander told The Epoch Times.
He told St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Renfrew, Ontario, he would not intentionally engage or start conflicts with transgender students, but he would continue to express his belief. He and his lawyer are bringing this matter to an Ontario human rights tribunal, calling it religious discrimination.
“Offence is obviously defined by the offended. I expressed my religious beliefs in class and it spiraled out of control,” Alexander said. “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.”
He hasn’t attended school since November, when he was first suspended. He had organized a protest against transgender students using the girls’ washrooms. He had also said in class discussions that there are only two, immutable genders.
When his suspension was lifted the beginning of January, he was instead “excluded” by the principal, which has the same effect as suspension but is considered non-disciplinary. He was told this week that he will be excluded for the rest of the school year, and he’s not sure if that will end up extending into the next school year as well.
The principal, Derek Lennox, told The Epoch Times he cannot comment on the situation.
Alexander’s lawyer, James Kitchen, told The Epoch Times the school has characterized Alexander’s actions as “bullying.”
“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,” Kitchen said. “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.”
Sophie Smith-Doré, co-founder of Arnprior Pride and mother of one of the transgender students at the school, told The Epoch Times in a written message in January, “Trans folks and their loved ones (like most marginalized folks) are constantly doing this emotional work and it’s exhausting. We bear the burden of trying to protect our gender-diverse kids.”
She declined to speak in detail about her or her child’s experience.
Mark Searson, director of education for the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board, told The Epoch Times in December that the board takes a “pastoral approach” with transgender students, engaging them in conversations and trying to bring people together without conflict.
Yes, I do feel for these parents. You love these children and they’re choosing something horrible and you want them to know you love them so you end up trying to protect them from reality. But you can’t. Of course you’re exhausted.
This young man deserves praise but these Catholic school bureaucrats deserve nothing but contempt for punishing him for standing up for Church teaching.
