LILLEY: High school student suspended, arrested for saying only 2 genders

In the name of diversity, a Catholic school in Renfrew suspended a student and had him arrested for saying there are only two genders.

On Monday, Alexander returned to class and was promptly met by the vice-principal, arrested by two local police officers and charged with trespassing. The now seemingly former student of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School told the National Post in an interview that he made comments during a class discussion on gender.

“It was about male students using female washrooms, gender dysphoria and male breastfeeding. Everyone was sharing their opinions on it, any student who wanted to was participating, including the teacher,” Alexander said.

“I said there were only two genders, and you were born either a male or a female, and that got me into trouble. And then I said that gender doesn’t trump biology.”

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Those statements, in line with Catholic teaching, were what got him suspended from school.

A lawyer representing Alexander said that the school won’t let him attend classes again until he agrees “not to use the ‘dead name’ of any transgender student and agreed to exclude himself from his two afternoon classes because those classes are attended by two transgender students who disapprove of Josh’s religious beliefs.”

Alexander told National Post that he’s never dead named another student, meaning using their original name before transitioning. As for trans students disapproving of Alexander’s religious beliefs, maybe they want to reflect on the fact that they are attending a Catholic school, or at least one that calls itself a Catholic school.

This incident shows why it might be time to finally say goodbye to Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic school system. There’s nothing Catholic about it, they adhere to the same secular gospel as all of our other public institutions, and it is beyond saving.

I say this as someone who graduated from the Catholic system, whose children all attended Catholic schools and who values the distinct education that I, and my children received. That distinct education is no longer distinct when, in the name of diversity, the person adhering to Catholic teaching is the one who is excluded.

Anyone who looks into Alexander’s social media presence will see that he is a political activist. He’s pro-life, and he favours a red ball cap that reads “Save Canada” on the front. He’s even been photographed at protests against the Trudeau government on Parliament Hill.

All of that will see critics say that Alexander doesn’t deserve any sympathy, that he got what was coming to him. This is where we are in political discourse in Canada.

This young man is being denied an education for having a different view than those in power.

What does it teach Alexander that the response to him saying there are only two genders inside a Catholic school is that he is now excluded? The school administration is turning this young man into a martyr, while also showing they long ago abandoned the Catholic beliefs they say they uphold as a school.

What does it teach the trans students who don’t want Alexander in their class because they disagree with his religious beliefs? It teaches them that they have special powers, are more important than other students, and don’t need to learn to deal with those they disagree with.

No one is well served by this.

Perhaps we don’t have the full story from Alexander or from the school board, but one thing is clear. In Ontario’s school system, woke politics trumps everything else, including the right of a teenager to receive an education.

The entire system is rotten to the core.