North Carolina: Small group protests school’s anti-gay policy

School says it could ban students from homes with homosexual or bisexual activity


A North Carolina Christian school has sent a letter to parents that says it reserves the right to refuse admission to students, or end their enrollment, if their homes support homosexual or bisexual activity.

Dated Nov 13 and signed by school head J Stacey Miller, the letter also says that “an integral part of Myrtle Grove Christian School’s mission is to foster spiritual development and a biblical worldview in the lives of its students. This includes leading students to develop a biblical understanding of morality and to pursue a life that is governed by the biblical moral code.”

It states that the policy is “certainly not intended as a statement of condemnation.”

In response to the policy, which is set to be implemented for the 2014/2015 school year, a small group protested across the street from the school with signs that read “Don’t Judge” and “Erase the Hate.”

A Facebook page, Boycott Myrtle Grove Christian School, has also been set up.

With sign in hand, young Maddie Smith-Russell told an ABC news channel that she has friends who are gay and that there “really is no difference, it’s just that they love their same sex.” Her mother, Tara, says she’s troubled that a place of education is fostering an unwelcoming atmosphere.

Another protester, Teresa Lamb, told an NBC news channel that the “message of hate” to the school’s children is upsetting.

Others say that if people are upset at the school’s policy, then “it’s their right not to go there.”

“I think they’re just following what they feel is right,” one school supporter told WECT. “They certainly as a Christian school should have that right to choose what they want to instill.”

According to Salon, the school will be eligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers in 2014.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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