Matt and Nicole Alexander’s story is not just about two Ontario teachers losing their jobs, it's about the personal and professional cost of standing by one's Christian beliefs in an increasingly conformist driven society.

The Alexanders, who had dedicated over 20 years to educating, were punished not for misconduct, but for failure to “celebrate and affirm LGBTQ+ issues.”

You read that right.

Their professional nightmare began after their son, Josh Alexander, a student in a different school district, took a very public stand against his Renfrew County Catholic District School Board's policy to allow males to trans identify their way into the girls' washroom.

Despite that stand aligning with his biblical and scientific belief that humans are either men or women, Alexander was suspended and even arrested when he returned to school in peaceful protest.

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While many became aware of the brave teen's plight back in 2022, what the public didn’t hear about was the quiet battle Joshua’s parents soon had to fight after it appears they were targeted professionally due to their son’s advocacy.

In April 2023, Matt was suspended after complaints about him surfaced on social media — simply because he is Josh’s father and shares the same beliefs.

“I was put on investigation after social media posts were made about me,” Matt told Rebel News during our interview. “I don’t have social media, so it was other people posting about me.”

A few weeks later, Nicole was suddenly suspended after she removed a Pride flag that was suspiciously placed on her kindergarten classroom door — something that had been placed there without her consent.

“She removed it and put it in the closet,” Matt explained. Later that same day, Nicole was called to the office and also suspended and placed under investigation.

By October 2023, both Matt and Nicole were terminated by the Renfrew County District School Board for “not celebrating and affirming LGBTQ issues,” despite their spotless teaching records.

“By September, the school board had said to us that we were in violation of board policies regarding diversity, DEI, and LGBTQ. And if we were willing to comply with the board requirement to celebrate and affirm LGBTQ issues, then we would have our jobs. And we declared what we're Christians, we laid out what we believe and why we can't celebrate that which we know is wrong,” Matt explained.

The consequences for the Alexanders have been nothing short of devastating.

Their income vanished overnight, forcing the family to sell their home to avoid foreclosure. “We had to sell our house in order to not lose it to the bank,” Matt said. “So, we sold that. And it just had to kind of absorb everything.”

The Alexanders are now fighting back with legal action.

With a team of lawyers on their cases thanks to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, the Alexanders have filed a human rights complaint against the school board for discrimination based on their religious beliefs, and a separate complaint against their union for failing to defend their rights.

“Persecution is here. It’s here. It’s now. And it’s going to get worse,” Matt said before encouraging everyone to take a stand for freedom of conscience.

“You don’t have to be a Christian. You’ve got to make up your mind whether you’re going to stand on your principles, on your own values, or whether you’re going to camouflage yourself and fade into the background.”