U.S. Christian school expels eight-year-old girl for saying she has a "crush" on a female classmate

CNN:

An 8-year-old student was kicked out of a Christian elementary school, after she told another female student she had a crush on her, the mother says.

The incident occurred last week, when Chloe Shelton, a second grader at Rejoice Christian School in Owasso, Oklahoma, told another female student she had a crush on her, mother Delanie Shelton told CNN.

Chloe was immediately removed from the playground and spent the next few hours in the principal's office, missing class time as a result, Shelton said.


"Before I was even called, the vice principal told Chloe that the Bible says that women can only have children with a man," Shelton told CNN. "(The vice principal) asked me how I feel about girls liking girls and I told her that I see no issue with it."

Shelton took Chloe home that day, and administrators told her to not come back Friday, she said.

The next day, the superintendent called Shelton, saying that the school was "ending their partnership" with Shelton's family, she told CNN, also expelling her 5-year-old son. When Shelton asked for specifics, he said her beliefs didn't align with theirs, she said.

"I was so blindsided. I was angry, hurt, betrayed, sad... so many different emotions. I just couldn't believe it," Shelton said. "I asked him to have a sit down meeting to discuss it and process it better and he refused, saying that 'nothing more needed to be discussed.'"

In a statement to CNN, Superintendent Joel Pepin declined to publicly comment, stating, "Due to privacy and other factors, it is the school's policy to refrain from public comments regarding any particular student or family."

Chloe Shelton has been at the school since Pre-K, a total of four years.
Chloe Shelton has been at the school since Pre-K, a total of four years.
'Sexual immorality' is grounds for dismissal, handbook states
The school's handbook states that "any form of sexual immorality" goes against its beliefs, including "professing to be homosexual/bisexual."

Students who do not "conform to the standards and ideals of work and life" at the school forfeit the "privilege" of attendance, the handbook states.

Someone is very misguided here, and it's not  Chloe.

Misguided? No charity, no mercy. Pretty typical of of many religions and one of the reasons why people are leaving organised religions.
Isn't this pretty normal to have same sex crushes at this age?
I think other parents should reconsider having their children in this school, although a lot of them are probably religious bigots if they already send their children there.

It's odd the way some people transfer adult emotions, especially sexual ones, onto young children.
Kids have crushes, it could be on their best friend, a pop star, a favourite uncle or aunty, it has nothing to do with their sexual orientation.

If the people who are running this school can't recognise that, should they really be in that position?

We have a Church in Wales School near us, I know a few parents and pupils who have gone there or are going there, it has an excellent name for results and how their pupils behave on buses travelling to and from school. By comparison the local comprehensive school bus seems to be chaos and mayhem as it passes by. I have attended church since a child until about 20 years ago and found on the whole people there were pretty easy going on doctrine, we did have a few who had beliefs that were pretty old fashioned and extreme. The problem is how indoctrinated are the people running the schools, its not something authorities seem to be able to keep on an even keel. Our local school seems ok but should we really allow faith schools when those running them have extreme views. The US seems to have more 'god fearing' folks though.
Sorry for droning on.

Southerners!

There are two issues here. The schools position on homosexuality, which is problematic but legal for a private religious school.

But as Syl alluded to, surely they can understand that these kids are too young to really understand a crush or other concepts in terms of their sexuality.

However the second issue is problematic throughout our society as many think kids are little adults. An 8 year old boy may think he's a girl, then next week think he's a potato.

Also, I often wonder if there is some other reason why these things happen. Like they didn't like mom and dad. Mom and dad were late with payments. Mom and dad were Methodist instead of Church of Christ.

All sorts of things can be a foot in small town America.

Maddog wrote:There are two issues here. The schools position on homosexuality, which is problematic but legal for a private religious school.  

But as Syl alluded to, surely they can understand that these kids are too young to really understand a crush or other concepts in terms of their sexuality.  

However the second issue is problematic throughout our society as many think kids are little adults.  An 8 year old boy may think he's a girl, then next week think he's a potato.  

I find that really odd that adults take seriously what young kids say when it comes to their sexuality.
I know a very small minority of children can be troubled re their sexuality from an early age, but they are the exception to the rule.
Most kids will sail through their childhood, having crushes, wanting to be something one day something else the next...and by the time they reach their teens, as long as the adults around them have left them alone to develop in their own good time,  they will be happy with whatever they choose to be.