Another Christian school tells LGBTQ+ students to bugger off.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” — Jesus Christ
When the Supreme Court established same-sex partners had a constitutional right to marry, it felt as if the country had turned the corner on accepting gays as unremarkable fellow citizens. Polling showed that even as religious fundamentalists whined about traditional this or biblical that, regular folks wondered what all the fuss was about.
But three new conservative Justices later and, with a political party sprinting to the right while shedding any embrace of decency, homophobia has become fashionable where bigots shop. However, realizing that the antipathy to adult gays had dissipated, opportunists took the war on LGBTQ+ to schools.
Now Florida leads the nation in scaring the bejeezus out of parents with school kids. And not just in the public schools. Back in June, the Grace Christian School in Valrico sent an email to parents with the subject line, "Important School Policy Point of Emphasis. ... Please Read." The message was this,
"We believe 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."
"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 (Genesis 2:24; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1; I Corinthians 6:9; I Thessalonians 4:2-7)."
"Students who are found participating in these lifestyles will be asked to leave the school immediately."
Let us parse this bit of hate.
First, the school confuses gender and sex. Sex is biological. Gender is a social construct.
Next, when the Bible was written only men counted. Women were property given away by their fathers to their husbands. And God created Eve from Adam’s rib (in one version of the creation myth. There are two.) So when the school talks about the “equal dignity” of men and women, they have already put their own spin on the Bible. It will not be the last time.
Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Nice try. But it ignores intersexuality in which a person has both male and female sex characteristics. These characteristics include genitalia, hormones, chromosomes, and reproductive organs. God created them and he makes no errors. Therefore insisting on binary sexuality identity is to deny God his creation. As of 2022, 12 states and DC allow for a non-binary sex option on birth certificates.
Conservatives love the slippery slope argument. (E.g. “If we permit gay marriage it will lead to people marrying their siblings, small children, and their lawnmower.) I can play that game too. Any ban on physically changing one’s biological sex because God created us perfect will lead to a prohibition on any surgical procedure — as that is interfering with his ‘creation’.
The school provides biblical references to back up their bigotry — a total of 44 verses. However, there are 31,102 verses in the Bible. This means the school ignores 99.86% of Scripture. And worse, it has no single reference to anything Jesus said on the LGBTQ+ issue. Why? Because Jesus Christ said nothing on the subject. And it is his religion for chrissakes.
The school’s decision to refer to Leviticus 18 rather than Leviticus 20 was particularly cynical. In chapter 18, the Bible enumerates sex crimes and recommends banishment. While Chapter 20 enumerates the sex crimes AND forbids spiritualists, mediums, cursing your parents, eating any unclean animal or bird, or anything that moves along the ground, with most of those crimes (including adultery) warranting a death sentence. Why has not the school addressed those ‘sins’?
Leviticus 19 (also unmentioned) bans you from mixing fabrics together, planting more than one type of seed in a field, or mating two different breeds of animal (no more mules or cockerpoos). It also forbids tattoos, cutting your hair on the sides of your head or beard, and eating rare steaks.
And the cherry-picking Grace Christian School certainly does not want to advertise verses 33 and 34:
33 “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Addressing the exclusionary policies the school’s administrator, Barry McKeen, said, "We are not a hateful group of people. We don't hate students who are of a particular persuasion." Yes, you are Barry. And yes, you do. In a country where children risk being massacred at school because conservative evangelicals will not do anything about war weapons with huge clips, these nasty little people are terrified someone might say they are gay.