Florida Christian School Says Students From LGBTQ Community Should Leave 'Immediately'

A Florida-based school has demanded students from the LGBTQ community should leave "immediately," while adding the children will only be addressed by the "gender on their birth certificates."

The authorities in Grace Christian School in Valrico, located about 20 miles east of Tampa, sent out an email to parents, stating their new policy that bans students from the LGBTQ community on the campus, NBC News reported.

The email obtained by NBC News was reportedly sent on June 6. The subject line of the mail read: "Important School Policy Point of Emphasis. ... Please Read."

The email went on to state the students will be addressed by the "gender on their birth certificates," and to further validate the stance, it cited scriptures.

"We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgender identity/lifestyle, self-identification, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful in the sight of God and the church (Genesis 2:24; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1; I Corinthians 6:9; I Thessalonians 4:2-7)," read the body of the email according to NBC News. "Students who are found participating in these lifestyles will be asked to leave the school immediately."

The email also mentioned parents would "have to agree to all policies and procedures before your student may start school in August."

Barry McKeen, the top administrator of the school, doubled down on the advisory in a video statement published on the school's website.

"It is true that a student can not come to our school ... and be transgender or homosexual. This is rooted in scriptures," McKeen said in the statement issued on Aug. 18. "God has spoken on those issues, explicitly, aggressively, and we have had these policies in our school since day number one in the early 1970s. This is not new."

"We are not a hateful group of people. We don't hate students who are of a particular persuasion," McKeen added.

In March, the Florida senate passed new legislation requiring teachers to remove any student who comes up with the appeal to be addressed by a different pronoun than indicated in their records. Under the law, dubbed "don't say Gay or Trans," even mentioning the presence of LGBTQ students in the classrooms will result in the school facing a hefty lawsuit. The National Center For Civil Rights in Florida opposed the bill stating it would mean putting the health and safety of LGBTQ-identifying students at risk.

The email from Grace Christian School has prompted the family of a 16-year-old girl, who is gay, to transfer her to another institute that has a more inclusive climate. "It's not like my daughter goes around wearing rainbow flags or anything like that," the teenager's mother told NBC News. "But I'm not going to have her feel ashamed of herself for any reason."

The student said while she felt like a "social outcast" at Grace Christian, her new school allowed her to be herself.

The teen and her mother spoke to NBC News anonymously out of the fear of harassment.