I don’t doubt that at all, it would be hard to anticipate such a frankly cartoonish scenario. It’s almost like a storyline out of an episode of ‘Glee’ designed to show how ridiculous homophobia is. I certainly don’t expect a private Catholic school education to become an offense for which CPS gets called, and I’m not sure that the mother, in this case, is at fault. That’s what makes this so tricky.
Subjecting a kid to an environment like this amounts to abuse by over-trusting a private religious organization to treat and educate that child properly. It’s placing an awful lot of trust in an organized religious entity that is well known for abusing children. I suppose folks could argue that such abuse can also occur in public schools, as abuse can happen anywhere. Still, by signing a contract with a private school, parents may be robbing their children of the right to pursue retribution if they are wronged in an academic environment. That can impact a kid’s sense of identity and their ability to defend themselves against injustice. Worse, it may affect whether or not they feel that they even have the right to advocate for themselves.
If not abusive, it seems neglectful and, at the very least disrespectful of the child’s autonomy.
Where conversion therapy is happening or attempted, I would argue that the abuse becomes a bit more overt and should be able to be challenged on the federal level. I don’t expect the government to start respecting the lives of LGBTQIA and gender non-conforming kids any time soon, however.
The amount of autonomy stolen from children in these facilities goes well beyond what occurs in public schools, and it’s the voluntary subjection of children into these environments that makes me feel that the parents are complicit in the abuse. When I say that “sending your kids to a school like this is abusive,” I intend to double down on your point that these environments cause massive damage to an adolescent’s mental health and wellness. Parents need to be more careful with whom they trust to educate their children.
Ultimately, private schools need to be the ones held accountable for perpetuating alarmingly arbitrary discrimination. Furthermore, parents need to stop sending their kids to these schools if they wish not to be complicit in causing their children’s future mental health struggles.
Because that’s the point, isn’t it? The damage caused often takes the form of a slow burn. It’s an anxiety disorder that follows the child their entire life or an internalized sense of self-hatred that requires an exorcism in the form of thousands of hours of therapy and mental health treatment. Parents who send their kids to schools like this need to be more aware of the fact that they make choices for their children that can define parts of who they are forever.
Children are so malleable, and putting a kid into an environment where there’s such a high potential for mistreatment is a choice that could see parents wondering if they’re at least part of the reason their child is gone.
It’s just so disheartening to me that a school, private or not, can still treat a gender-non-conforming or LGBTQIA kid like this. I truly fear for children when a school can expel them for the crime of liking rainbows. It’s heartbreaking, and I hope some proper legal precedent can be set soon to stop the religious loophole Catholic schools are granted that allows them to attack and abuse their most vulnerable students so freely.
