Administrators at Grace Christian School in Florida are receiving death threats after instructing parents to refer to students to their biological sex and warned students who profess to be LGBTQ will be asked to leave.
“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,” states an email by Barry McKeen, community pastor and administrator for the private school, sent to parents on June 6.
Students found exhibiting an LGBTQ lifestyle would be asked to leave, McKeen warned.
NBC News obtained a copy of McKeen’s email and published an article on Thursday warning, “Florida Christian school says it will refer to students only by ‘biological gender.’
“The June 6 correspondence to parents cited scripture and said that students will be referred to by the “gender on their birth certificates” during the school year beginning this month,” the publication notes. “While the email refers to “biological gender,” the National Institute of Health defines “gender” as a social construct, as opposed to “sex,” which is the biological difference between females and males.”
McKeen and his family were inundated with death threats after NBC News called attention to the Christian school’s religious policy.
The pastor issued a video statement in response to the backlash and assured the policy surrounding student sexuality was instituted since the school’s inception, 49 years ago, and will remain in effect.
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“There were many things in the [NBC] article that were true. It is true, our school and many schools like ours have a policy that does not allow students to be homosexuals or transgender or a number of other things,” McKeen said. “It deals with human sexuality and addresses that even our students who are heterosexual — they are students, they are young people — they shouldn’t be sexual at all. God condemns any sexual activity outside of marriage. That is also in the policy.”
McKeen noted that he only answers to God, not “bloggers or TikTokers.”
“I am not going to coward.,” he continued. “I’m not going to pedal. It’s not new. Parents were reminded of it on the 5 of June.”
He added, “We’re not going to change because god’s not going to change.”
McKeen noted in a Facebook post that had not stopped crying following the attacks but will continue to adhere to the “Word of God.”
The tuition rate of the private Christian school, located approximately 20 miles outside of Tamp in Valrico, is up to $6,595 annually.
To date no student has been expelled from the school over their sexual orientation, but one decided to change schools after receiving the email about the policy, McKeen noted in the video statement.
“The email was a factor in promoting the family of a 16-year old girl, who is gay and was a student at the school, to transfer her to another religious school that is more accepting,” NBC News reports.
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The daughter claims she felt like an outcast at the Christian school, but feels “normal” at the new school.
“It’s not like my daughter goes around wearing rainbow flags or anything like that,” the teenager’s mother told the publication. “But I’m not going to have her feel ashamed of herself for any reason.”
While leaders at Grace Christian are under fire for prohibiting sexual behavior amongst students, schools across the nation have infused elementary-grade curriculum with propaganda promoting gender dysphoria and “drag queen story time.”
For example, the Austin Independent School District in Texas is urging K-12 teachers to attend the “Be A Beacon” training seminar to learn “how to create supportive learning environments for LGBTQIA+” students as young as five at taxpayer expense, as the Gateway Pundit reported on Sunday.
The course materials presented to teachers in the gender training were obtained by a public information request and published by the Washington Free Beacon:
