Religious Ridiculousness Strikes Again

This time to an 8 year old girl in Virginia.  The young girl was not allowed to return to her school on the grounds that she keeps her hair short and wears what would be considered boys clothing.  The school principal went as far as to say that unless the young girl and her family realize that god made her female and that she needed to act according to her "god-ordained identity" that the school was not the best place for her to continue her education.  

The school, a private christian school, can deny enrollment to those who condone homosexuality and alternative sexual identity.  Now as a private institution, the school has the right to do this and I would agree with their rights as long as they receive no federal funding for the school.  But just because I agree with the right for this school to deny enrollment based on christian values does not mean I agree wth their decision.  This is an 8 year old girl we're talking about here.

The real problem here is the message this action is sending to this young girl.  Obviously I don't know this young lady or her family but I don't think it's crazy to think that the message being sent to her by the school is that, in some way, she's not good enough.  Could you imagine going up to a child that ilooks up to you and telling that child they are not good enough to be around you?  What kind of effect do you think that could have?  

Now this may turn out to be a good thing.  There may be a silver lining that we are not yet able to see.  This young lady will no doubt be enrolled in another school where she will be accepted in as she is and hopefully get to continue her education without the fear of being bullied by school officials for just being who she is.  Honestly, I know many women who were considered "tomboys" when they were young.  Young girls who liked playing in the mud, catching bugs, and prefered wearing jeans over dresses.  In today's society however, there is no need to seperate this.  It should be equally accepted if a girl would rather wear jeans and a t-shirt or a boy wants to wear a princess dress to play in.  These children are just learning who they are and are at the starting point of finding their identity.

This is an unfortunate side effect of the the rights and freedoms we all have in this country.  Yes the school is a christian private school and yes they have a right to deny enrollment to this young girl but is this the best way for the school to address this situation.  This is just another example in a long list of examples where religion and religious belief negatively effect another young and impressionable child.