Christian School Says Gay And Trans Students Will Be Asked To Leave

A Christian school in Florida has said that gay and trans students will be asked to “leave the  school immediately”. 

Grace Christian School in Valrico insisted that other Christian schools in Florida had similar policies that did not welcome LGBTQI students. 

Trigger Warning: This story discusses homophobic and transphobic statements, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.

“It is true that a student cannot come to our school, knowingly for us, and be transgender or homosexual. That is rooted in the scriptures,” the school’s administrator and pastor Barry McKeen claimed in a video defending the policy following media reports. 

“God has spoken on those issues, explicitly, aggressively, and we have had these policies in our school since day number one in the early 1970s. This is not new.”

McKeen admitted that one LGBTQI student had left the school, after discussions between the management and the parents, who decided to withdraw their child.

School Equates Homosexuality With Bestiality

McKeen made the video in response to an NBC report about his email to parents reiterating the institution’s policy that “God created mankind in His image: male (man) and female (woman), sexually different but with equal dignity.”

“Therefore, one’s biological sex must be affirmed and no attempts should be made to physically change, alter, or disagree with one’s biological gender — including, but not limited to, elective sex reassignment, transvestite, transgender, or non-binary gender fluid acts of conduct (Genesis 1:26-28). Students in school will be referred to by the gender on their birth certificate and be referenced in name in the same fashion,” the email said. 

“We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgender identity/ lifestyle, self-identification, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful in the sight of God and the church… Students who are found participating in these lifestyles will be asked to leave the school immediately,” McKeen added. 

A Horrible Place, Says Ex Student

Earlier this month, a Sarasota County School district in Florida adopted a new policy following the “Don’t Say Gay” bill which requires teachers to out their students if they come out as LGBTQI.

I went here for kindergarten. They still had corporal punishment and required parents to use a paddle on children. My mom pulled me out when they required her to do so. Grace Christian school is a horrible place that no one should send their children to. https://t.co/AJY5IN1uCC

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) August 20, 2022

Alejandra Caraballo, a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, said that she had gone to Grace Christian School as a child before her mom pulled her out.

“I went here for kindergarten. They still had corporal punishment and required parents to use a paddle on children. My mom pulled me out when they required her to do so. Grace Christian school is a horrible place that no one should send their children to,” Caraballo posted on Twitter.