Student suspended for truthful statement

Catholic teenager Malachy O’Kane was suspended from his Ontario public high school for 6 days because he wore a sweatshirt reading, “There are only two genders.” O’Kane, 16, was suspended earlier this month, the second day he wore the shirt to the Granite Ridge Education Centre in Sharbot Lake, a small Ontario municipality in between Toronto and Ottawa. One of the school’s counselors told Malachy that he was not allowed to wear the shirt because the school considers it “hate speech.”

Ironically and hypocritically, the school itself, which serves children from kindergarten to Grade 12, prominently displays controversial ideological-political messaging—including LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter images—on its walls. 

One wonders whether Granite Ridge Education Centre, and most other schools in Canada and the (formerly) United States, would similarly suspend students for wearing shirts stating: “The Earth is round,” “The sun is the center of the solar system,” or “Water is wet.” What about shirts proclaiming, “The science is settled,” “White people suck,” or “Trump is a fascist?”

I think we can all guess at the answers. Accurately.

Of course, the truth cannot actually be “hate speech.” Indeed, in days of yore, it was often said that “the truth shall set you free.” Today, however, the truth is more likely to get you suspended, canceled, or imprisoned. Because the truth is a threat to Democrats and other leftists, and they have a monopoly on power. Truth is kryptonite to socialists/Marxists/communists, all of whom crave power above all else.

Jesus told the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free [emphasis added].” Jesus was crucified. The Jews were slaughtered en masse during the Holocaust…and are once again being set upon. 

That is the truth. As is “There are only two genders,” or biological sexes (see also: Genesis 1:27). There, I’ve said it.

Whether it sets me free or not, time will tell. But, in one sense, it doesn’t matter. Because, like kindness, truth is its own reward.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.