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Gay Student Claims His Christian School Banned Him from School Function

  • Carrie Dedrick Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated Jun 05, 2015

A Florida high school student says he was banned from participating in a school function after he came out as gay. 

Bryce Goodson attended Providence High School, a Christian high school in Jacksonville. He recently announced his sexual orientation on Twitter; the following day a teacher told him not to attend a school event, according to local news station News 4 Jax.

Goodson has since left the high school, but created an online petition to publicize the incident. 

The petition says, “Shortly after I came out as gay on Twitter, I was contacted by a teacher and was told that the Providence School Board decided it would be unwise for me to attend the Pony Awards (the awards ceremony for our school musical, Little Women).” 

The student says he created the petition “to make anyone else at Providence who is gay or questioning feel at least somewhat more confident in who they are.”

Goodson’s father, Ed Goodson expressed his disappointment in the school. 

“...we’ve had students there for two kids for 12 years,” he said. “(We’re) quite surprised with their behavior on the issue.” 

Providence administrator Dr. Julie Giardino said the school intends to act on its statement of faith which includes the statement, “We hold the state of marriage to be an expression of a Biblical standard and the union between a man and a woman.”

Publication date: June 5, 2015