If hateful adults love doing one thing, it’s stomping down on vulnerable youth who rely on them for safety, security, and education. We see this again and again as Republicans push anti-trans and discriminatory pieces of legislation that target some of our most marginalized youth when it comes to bathroom access, sports, and even health care. Anti-trans hate overlaps with other terrible rhetoric and policy stances from conservatives too, of course, including critical race theory (CRT) hysteria, book bans, and ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills that target queer people in general.
Some institutions are, of course, more explicit in their hate than others. One example comes to us out of a private school in Valrico, Florida, which, as reported by NBC News, asked parents to remove their queer children from the school. Barry McKeen, who serves as both a pastor and administrator for the school that educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade, also said in a June 6 email to parents that the school will only refer to students by their sex assigned at birth.
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Grace Christian School administrator McKeen told parents they believe “one’s biological sex must be affirmed” and that no attempts to “change, alter, or disagree” with one’s “biological gender” should be made. They went on to add that “any form” of queer sexual orientation is a sin in the “sight of God” and students found participating in these “lifestyles” will be asked to leave the school.
In addition to listing queer orientations like lesbianism and bisexuality, McKeen included bestiality, incest, adultery, and pornography.
Unsurprisingly, McKeen only doubled down after the email sparked outrage online. In a video statement shared on Facebook, McKeen basically said the school’s policy is their policy and it’s not changing. He said the policy is actually nothing new, but the email was meant to remind parents.
According to the outlet, the title of the email was "Important School Policy Point of Emphasis. ... Please Read" and parents were directed to agree to “all policies” before their student could return to school in August.
“God is the same yesterday, today and forever,” he stated. “He does not change.”
In discussing the video, McKeen said “many things” in the NBC News article are true, but that he chose not to speak to the reporter because he sensed they were not “for us but against us.”
“It is true,” McKeen continued in the video. “That a student can not come to our school, knowingly, for us, and be transgender or homosexual. That is rooted in the scriptures.”
McKeen also said one student was “withdrawn” from the school because of their queer identity but says they were not expelled. McKeen referenced a perhaps hypothetical situation where a class discussion about Lia Thomas, an openly trans woman swimmer, might have upset a trans student … and of course, he misgenders Thomas and refers to her as a “biological male.” He says he doesn’t believe there was ever any intent to make “anybody feel bad.”
And like something straight out of a satire, he added that he and his wife have “homosexual” friends who know that they “disagree” but love each other. “We’re not hateful,” he insists.
Truly, you can’t make this stuff up.
