(LifeSiteNews) — Josh Alexander, a Canadian high school student suspended from his Catholic school last year for protesting against allowing gender-confused males to use the girls’ bathroom, is looking to appeal his suspension with legal help from Liberty Coalition Canada (LCC).
On January 5, LCC on behalf of Alexander sent a “Notice of Intention to Appeal Suspension” to Mary-Lise Rowat, Superintendent of Educational Services at Renfrew County Catholic District School Board.
Alexander attends St. Joseph’s Catholic High School, in Renfrew, Ontario, which is served by the Renfrew County Catholic District.
“Mr. Alexander herein appeals the Suspension pursuant to section 1.1(b)(ii) of RCCDSB Policy Pupil Suspension Appeal (the “Appeal Policy”). For the purposes of this appeal, Mr. Alexander has withdrawn from parental control, is a mature minor, and is competent to instruct counsel in the conduct of the appeal,” reads the statement, signed by LCC lawyer James Kitchen.
LCC noted that as the “Suspension has already been served, there is no urgency regarding the timeliness of an Appeal Hearing.”
“Mr. Alexander consents to a hearing date being set later than 15 school days from the date of this Notice and suggests a date be selected that is convenient for all the individuals involved, including his counsel,” adds the notice.
Alexander, who is 16 years old, was handed a lengthy 20-day suspension on November 23, 2022, after organizing a school walkout that same month in support of the rights of girls to access their facilities without having to endure the presence of male students.
He told LifeSiteNews last year that he believes, in accordance with Catholic teaching and the Bible, that there are only two sexes.
The notice of appeal to the RCCDSB states that Alexander requests that the “Hearing Committee exercise its discretion to dispense with section 2.8 of the Appeal Policy and thereby open the hearing to the public.”
LCC said that Alexander thinks the “issues underlying the appeal of the Suspension are matters of public interest and the public interest is best served by removing the hearing from the cover of secrecy.”
“Mr. Alexander will consent to the anonymization of all names excepting his own and that of Mr. Lennox,” the letter further explains.
The notice also states that Alexander requests the hearing be “conducted electronically in accordance with the Electronic Hearing Guidelines,” and that “permitting up to 100 members of the public to attend the virtual hearing will satisfy the public interest in an open hearing in this matter.”
In addition to organizing the walkout, the justification for Alexander’s suspension also included statements he made in class as well as an social media. Theses statements included the affirmation that there are only two sexes, male and female, that one cannot switch between the two, and as such, biological males should not be permitted entry into girls’ bathrooms.
Alexander further told LifeSiteNews last year that some of the girls at his school, prior to his decision to hold the walkout, told him they were not comfortable with males using their bathrooms. He also said that the school already has multiple gender-neutral bathrooms.
In an LCC email, Kitchen contended that under the “guise of ‘safety,’ as that term has been revised by woke gender activists now pervasive in public institutions, Josh has been penalized for expressing his Christian beliefs regarding gender and modesty, beliefs which also happen to align with both objective truth and actual safety.”
“Josh not only has a right to express himself during class discussions and through public forums, he also has a right to not be discriminated against by his school for his sincere religious beliefs. Being suspended and excluded from classes is the height of discrimination,” asserted the lawyer.
The LCC further noted that Alexander would appreciate “peaceful protesting on public property near the school,” done “respectfully, but boldly,” as a way of voicing support for him and opposing the “unjust treatment” he “has received.”
Per the LCC, Alexander also encourages people to express their concerns “both publicly and in your own lives, over perpetuating the fiction young people can choose their gender and that it is acceptable for boys and men to infiltrate girls’ and women’s spaces.”
The suspension of Alexander comes amid a noticeable push in western nations to actively promote gender ideology to young people, particularly in the United States and Canada.
Just last year in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government pledged a whopping $100 million in funding for LGBT activist groups.
LifeSiteNews’ editor-in-chief, John-Henry Westen, recently conducted an interview with Alexander, wherein the young man talks about his situation and the pervasiveness of gender ideology in Canadian schools today.