An eight-year-old girl has reportedly been expelled from her school in Oklahoma after telling another girl she had a crush on her.
Delanie Shelton said her daughter, Chloe, was told by officials at Rejoice Christian Schools in Owasso that the bible only permitted her to marry a man.
"[Chloe] said the vice principal sat her down and says the bible says you can only marry a man and have children with a man," Shelton told Fox 23 News.
"My daughter was crying saying 'does God still love me?'"
Shelton added: "The vice principal asked me how do I feel like girls liking girls and I said if we're being honest, I think it's okay for girls to like girls and she looked shocked and appalled.
"They ripped my kids out of the only school they've ever really known away from their teachers and friends they've had over the past four years over something my daughter probably doesn't know or fully understand."
Shelton told the news station that she was raising her child to understand the basic human right that people should be free to love whoever they want, regardless of gender.
In separate comments to KTUL, Shelton said the school made her daughter feel ashamed. "Whatever makes people happy they should be allowed to do," she said.
"She was upset and crying and asking me if God still loves me if she is wrong for the way that she feels.
"The superintendent called me and let me know that they would be ending their partnership with our family."
The family say must now find a new school for Chloe in the middle of the pandemic.
Rejoice Christian Schools reportedly told Shelton they did not condone any relationships on campus.
Fox 23 said the school's student handbook did not list the behaviour as grounds for expulsion. Newsweek has contacted the school for comment.
Rejoice Christian Schools describes itself as "one of the largest Christian schools in the Tulsa area. It is our Vision to be a Christian school that provides students with excellence in education and strength in character so that students will be spiritually, intellectually, physically, and socially equipped to impact their community and the world for Christ."
The school was founded in 1992 to "glorify God through excellence in Christian education," its website states.
"From its modest beginning as a preschool and kindergarten of only 40 students, to its current enrolment of over 1,000 students from Pre3 through High School, it is evident that God's hand has blessed us."
In October, a teacher in Florida was fired from his position at a school run by an Adventist organization for being gay.
Steven Arauz was dismissed from his $49,000-a-year role as a sixth-grade teacher at Forest Lake Education Center (FLEC) in Longwood, central Florida, on June 23 shortly after featuring in an article published by online news site Gays With Kids.
Arauz, who has an adopted son, told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper he had hoped the interview would lead to more children in Florida's foster care system finding loving family homes.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
