A private Christian school is under fire nationwide after an email sent to parents was brought to light by the mainstream media.
In the email, Grace Christian School administrators told parents they would not address students by anything other than their biological sex, regardless of what pronouns they chose to adopt.
After that June 6 email went viral, Grace Christian School has faced backlash across social media for sticking up for their Christian values.
Grace Pastor and Administrator Berry McKeen told parents that if students were having any sexual relationship, whether LGBTQ or heterosexual, they would be expelled.
Fox 5 San Diego reported that a mother came to them saying she was not aware of the policy and decided to take her lesbian daughter out of the school for her own well-being. The parent claims she was afraid her daughter would accidentally out herself at school and be expelled.
McKeen told Charisma News during an interview that this should come as no surprise to parents because, upon enrolling their child in the school, all families had to sign a contract agreeing to the biblical standards the school holds.
With roughly 100 new students coming in this year, McKeen told us it is normal to send out a list of clarifications to parents. The school sent out five or six clarifications regarding dress code, hair styles and any other concerns the school has.
“With this particular issue, the previous year we saw some girls in school be more friendly than what was appropriate for just friends,” McKeen says.
To this day, the school has not expelled a student for identifying as LGBTQ. McKeen noted there has only been one incident in recent years where a student was approaching boys via text and displaying homosexual tendencies.
“We called his parents in and they agreed this wasn’t something acceptable in their family and he got counseling,” McKeen says.
The student was allowed to stay at the school through the year and there were no further incidents. The following school year, his parents decided to take him out of the private school on their own accord.
McKeen clarified the goal of the school is not to be hateful or judgmental towards any student and any transgression that comes to light is met with grace and love. He is also unsure why this has garnered such national debate as nearly all private Christian schools nationwide have the exact same policy in place. {eoa}
Shelby Lindsay is an assistant editor at Charisma Media.
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