BETHANY, Okla. – A honor roll senior was kicked out of school for being gay. Southwestern Christian University officials stated because of her recent marriage to a woman, she can’t come back to school.
“It was an incredible moment for both of us and it was a chance for us to share our love for our families and all of our close friends,” said Christian Minard as she looked at her wedding pictures.
She said with one glance at her Facebook page she was expelled from school.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before so I was utterly in shock.”
She received a letter from Southwestern Christian University the day she got back from her honeymoon. It reads in part: “Due to this recent event, you will not be able attend SCU in the future.”
“It compares gay marriage to being able to smoke a cigarette in a restaurant and I felt like it was a very degrading letter,” said Minard.
Minard is a senior who planned to graduate this fall. She had academic and athletic scholarships to play basketball.
Before being accepted, each student must sign a code of conduct agreeing to the religious standard of the school.
“It wasn’t something I just singed and went on with, but the desire to play basketball and remain in sports and be a part of the team was there and the desire to continue my education with a scholarship was there”
The student handbook includes what’s called a lifestyle covenant. It reads similar to the bible verse Galatians 5:19 listing what the school considers sinful acts.
Minard said while she did break the covenant, she’s being held to a different standard than other students.
“Also in the handbook it says that not maintaining your health is against school policy. Well they’re not punishing the obese students in our school and they’re not punishing students who are having premarital sex,” she said.
She wishes the university she loved attending handled the situation another way.
“I would have liked to have had the common courtesy of being spoken to first and given the chance to actually voice my opinion and voice how I felt about the situation,” said Minard.
Ryan Kiesel ACLU is supporting her stance. “Here this university’s own student code prohibits discrimination and what we have right here is a patented case of discrimination where Christian was singled out and expelled without any notice whatsoever”
