Countless news articles have appeared about people being kicked out of their churches or other religious organizations for their sexual orientation or gender identities.
The depressing trend has officially hit witch-hunt status now that an 8-year-old Virginia girl had to leave her Christian school after being told her short hair, jeans, T-shirts and “behavior” weren’t feminine enough.
Her clothes and hobbies apparently violated Timberlake Christian School’s guidelines, which say “sexual immorality, homosexual lifestyle or alternative gender identity” are grounds for denying a student enrollment.
Principal Becky Bowman wrote her grandparents a letter saying, “We believe that unless Sunnie [Kahle] as well as her family clearly understand that God has made her female and her dress and behavior need to follow suit with her God-ordained identity, that TCS is not the best place for her future education.”
The letter specifically says, “This request does not in any way stem from Sunnie’s academic performance or general cooperation with school rules.”
Since her grandparents went to the press, another school administrator has contradicted the original letter, claiming Sunnie was disruptive in class and the decision to remove her had nothing to do with her appearance.
Rather than force their granddaughter to take up school-ordained feminine clothes and hobbies, her grandparents sent her to another school.
To review, the school’s administration was sent into a moral panic over a girl who likes baseball cards and sneakers because they are committed to eliminating sexual immorality among grade-schoolers. What a rare sentence.
This paranoid idiocy is what happens when adults are so consumed with their own fear that they project it onto the children they’re supposed to be protecting and caring for.
The most ironic part is that trying to weed out children using stereotypes and rigid gender roles as a guide won’t even work. Some people feel very sure of their orientation from a young age, but they aren’t the majority.
Whatever judgment is passed on these children isn’t just pointlessly cruel. It’s absolutely worthless.
Unless someone volunteers the information, there is no way to know their sexual orientation. Both parts of that statement apply to everyone. One can make gay-dar jokes, scrutinize a girl’s Doc Martens, quiz a guy about fashion. It accomplishes nothing.
The adults in this equation are acting like children, making up arbitrary rules about what’s correct and what’s not to make themselves feel better about something they fear and can’t control. They’ve created an environment where they are free to bully anyone they deem too different, then congratulate themselves on a job well done.
All they’ve accomplished is ensuring this girl can’t go to school with her friends anymore. Honestly, that’s probably all they wanted.
The truth is, there is no way to predict who will identify as what. There are no accurate ways to discriminate efficiently. Clothes won’t help. Hair won’t help. Behavior and hobbies won’t help.
But admitting that would force the adults in charge to give up the only security blanket they have. Thanks to them, it’s the children who have to pay the high price their delusions come with.
