Ontario student permitted to appeal Catholic school suspension after protesting gender neutral bathrooms

Josh Alexander, 17, was kicked out of St. Joseph’s Secondary School in Cobden in November 2022 after staging a single-sex bathroom protest and daring to express the belief that God created only two sexes, male and female.

"We won!" Alexander posted on X following the court's ruling. "My high school will be forced to hear my appeals regarding, multiple suspensions, exclusions, and the trespassing notice."

"The world is watching," he added, tagging the school board. "Will you continue to punish students for exercising their religious freedoms and practicing chivalry?"

According to the court filing, after his first suspension was handed down, Alexander obtained legal counsel and appealed the decision as the sole appellant, announcing that he had withdrawn from parental control on December 22.

Despite his parents confirming that he had, in fact, withdrawn, the school board did not accept, and refused to let Alexander appeal "on the basis that there was insufficient objective evidence to support [his] assertion."

Alexander's father signed an affidavit attesting to the move, but the school board maintained that there was insufficient evidence, thus blocking the appeals from moving forward.

On August 31, however, Judge Jaye Hooper ruled that Alexander's original declaration of withdrawal from parental control was valid, and that he "has standing to bring the appeals of his suspensions and exclusion."

Alexander was first suspended in November pending an investigation, and was scheduled to return to school in January on certain conditions. He refused to abide by them, but nonetheless showed up in class that day, and was suspended yet again. In February, he was arrested for tresspassing after entering school grounds, but later released.

Alexander has not been in school since, after his presence was deemed "detrimental to the physical and mental well-being" of other students.

His parents have since both been put on leave from their teaching positions and placed under investigation in what appears to be a case of guilt by association.