(LifeSiteNews) – A Canadian school community is in an uproar after a volunteer football coach was let go by the principal because he spoke out against gender-confused youth who “take their hatred of Christians” to another level by committing violent acts against them.
The incident concerns 37-year-old Alberta High School volunteer coach Taylor “Teej” Johannesson, who worked for years as the defensive coordinator for H.J. Cody High School in Sylvan Lake, Alberta.
School principal Alex Lambert fired Teej, as he is known, as a result of a TikTok video in which he speaks out against radical gender ideology and the dangers it brings.
A phone call about the firing was heard by editors at the Western Standard. According to reports, Lambert told Teej he was fired over the TikTok video because it violated the Education Act.
In the background of the recording, Teej’s wife, who is a teacher at the same high school, can be heard calling out Lambert in saying how insane the whole ordeal is and that it will not make her look good in front of staff.
Teej’s TikTok video, posted under the handle AntiWoke55555, is about five minutes long. In it, he notes how transgender ideology is being forced on kids who do not want it. He mentions how it affects kids’ mental health.
Teej also said this has created a volatile situation that results in gender-confused youth lashing out in acts of violence, as happened in the Minneapolis shooting last week.
As noted by the Western Standard, Teej says Lambert has disagreed with his views of the past when he spoke out against mandatory COVID jabs, lockdowns and the closing of schools. According to Teej, Lambert has a “far-left” and “woke” mentality.
Teej has been in trouble before with the school administration. About three years ago, he was called in to see school officials for posting on Twitter a biological fact that “Boys have a penis. Girls have a vagina.”
According to Teej, Lambert used his TikTok video as an excuse to get rid of someone in the school with conservative political views and who is against her goal to place “safe space stickers” all over the school.
Derek Fildebrandt, publisher, president and CEO of the Western Standard who broke Teej’s story, noted, “Whatever one makes of Teej’s views expressed on TikTok, they certainly weren’t hateful.”
“The Sylvan Lake man aims trans ideology being peddled as a cure-all for confused or depressed kids, but not at the kids themselves,” he wrote.
Community rallying behind the fired coach
According to the Western Standard, many in the local community are angry with Teej’s firing, including assistant coach Jeremy Martins.
Some sources close to the school have noted that Lambert is “chastising the kids for speaking up for me and emailing her their concerns” and telling them to “leave it to the adults.”
As for Martins, he said that he will resign as a volunteer coach is Teej is not give his position back by Lambert, noting his firing was “deplorable, insane, and a massive infringement on free speech.”
Fildebrandt observed that the Teej’s views align with the Conservative government of Alberta under Premier Danielle Smith in many ways.
“Those views might not fit nicely with the ideologically captured Alberta Teachers’ Association, but they are within the broad mainstream of Alberta culture,” he wrote.
As for Smith’s government, it has in place a new policy protecting female athletes from gender-confused men that has taken effect across the province.
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, it is currently fighting a court order that is blocking the province’s newly passed ban on transgender surgeries and drugs for children.
Alberta also plans to ban books with sexually explicit as well as pornographic material, many of which contain LGBT and even pedophilic content, from all school libraries.
