An eight-year-old girl has been expelled from a Christian school for telling a friend that she had a crush on her.
Chloe Shelton, a second-grader at Rejoice Christian School in Owasso, Oklahoma, was expelled last week, her mother Delanie Shelton told CNN, after making the revelation to another student.
In the video below, Shelton discusses the incident:"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."
Chloe was taken home by Shelton that day and the school's administrators told her not to come back on Friday.
Shelton received a call from the superintendent the next day, who told her that the school was "ending their partnership" with the family, and her five-year-old son was also expelled.
She was told that her beliefs did not align with that of the school when she asked for specifics about the decision.
"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.'"
Superintendent Joel Pepin declined to publicly comment, saying in a statement to CNN: "Due to privacy and other factors, it is the school's policy to refrain from public comments regarding any particular student or family."
The school's handbook states that "any form of sexual immorality" goes against its beliefs, including "professing to be homosexual/bisexual."
The handbook also states that students who do not "conform to the standards and ideals of work and life" will be forfeiting the "privilege" of attendance.
Shelton explained that she hadn't read the specifics of the handbook prior to enrolling her daughter at the school four years previously.
"It wasn't a relationship nor a practice," Shelton said of the handbook. "Just a crush. To an 8-year-old, that could just mean that she really enjoys playing in the playground with her."
