8-year-old girl kicked out of school for telling a friend she was in love with her

An eight-year-old girl was kicked out of her elementary school, Rejoice Christian School in Oklahoma, United States, for confessing to a friend that she was in love with her, according to her mother, Denise Shelton.

The events took place last week, when Chloe Shelton, the girl in question, shared her feelings with a second-grader classmate. After hearing what happened, the teachers forced the little girl to leave recess and sit in the principal’s office for several hours, wasting time in class, CNN news outlet reports.

“Before calling me, the vice-principal told Chloe that the Bible says women can only have children with one man and he asked me what I thought about girls who like girls. I told her I had no problem with that, ”explains the girl’s mother.

Last Thursday, the day of the event, center officials asked her to bring her daughter home and not to take her the next day. After 24 hours, the principal contacted her to inform her that neither Chloe nor her five-year-old brother could return to school because their ideals did not match those of the school.

Shelton assured that “they took me by surprise. I was angry, hurt, betrayed, sad … so many different emotions. I could not believe it. I asked (the director) that we have a meeting to discuss it and deal with it better, but he refused, saying “there was no need to discuss anything else,” she recounts with shock.

For his part, the school principal, Joel Pepin, avoided making any kind of comment on what happened to Chloe, saying that “for reasons of confidentiality and other factors, the school has a policy of to refrain from any public comment on any particular student or family “.

The school that prohibits diversity

Rejoice Christian School has a conduct book that all students must follow. Among its rules, we can see: “any form of sexual immorality, such as declaring oneself homosexual or bisexual, goes against our beliefs, and therefore constitutes a ground for expulsion”.

Thus, all students who do not “conform to the norms and ideals of work and life” in the center lose the “opportunity” to study there. They also cannot make displays of affection in public, such as shaking hands or hugging, and people who do become pregnant risk being deported immediately unless they are “confined to the home.” home ”so that other students“ are not drawn to a bad example to do the same ”.

Denise Shelton ensured that she had not expressly read the textbook when she enrolled Chloe at the age of four in school, even though she did not know she would confess her feelings to another girl. Moreover, he defends that “it was not a relationship or a practice, just a pleasure. For an 8 year old girl, that could mean she really enjoys playing on the playground with her, ”he argued.

“Chloe is having a really bad time,” as her mother revealed and added, “since she kept crying asking if God didn’t love her anymore.”

However, her case made so much noise in the United States that many people decided to write messages of support or send gifts to cheer her up, including Kylie Holden, a 26 year old girl who studied at the same school and is now openly bisexual.

The girl explained that she had lived her school years between threats of deportation and that she and her friends were not able to publicly say what her sexual orientation was until they have graduated. “These are the kinds of harmful things that you will have to deal with for the rest of your life,” he assured, adding that “I don’t want her to feel like us. I don’t want her to grow up. thinking it’s not worth it, because it’s not true, ”said the young woman.

Chloe has already received over 150 messages from citizens across the country who are proud of her and love her for who she is. “She feels so loved and supported now thanks to so many great people who have contacted us,” says Denise, who also says her daughter “is excited for another start at a new school.”

* This text was originally published by Los Andes. It is reproduced here with the corresponding permission.