A Christian college in southern Florida has been criticised by social media users after an applicant said she was rejected because of her sexuality.
Posting to TikTok on Friday, user @giannapalmo said in a text caption to a video, “when ur floridian college decides to not take u anymore bc ur gay”.
She followed-up by identifying the institution as Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA), a private Christian college, who denied the claims and allegedly blocked her on Instagram.
Gianna said in a TikTok that she was contacted by the college two weeks ago about needing to have a “meeting with me regarding my recent Instagram post”.
“The only recent thing was a picture of me and my girlfriend kissing in front of a Pride flag in New York City,” she told her TikTok followers.
Gianna continued: “I asked if had anything to do with be being gay, they said can’t disclose that information unless I agree to the meeting”.
She went on to share an alleged recording of a meeting with an admissions tutor at the college. The call suggested that her application to PBA was rescinded because “there are different standards of what is considered acceptable behaviour”.
The person also cited the guidelines set out by the university, which asks students and staff to follow “standards” set out by the bible.
A section on homosexuality in the PBA handbook meanwhile states that “it is the community expectation that PBA students, faculty, and staff will neither engage in nor promote sexuality or gender expression that contradicts biblical standards.”
Commenting on her TikTok, the college said “Gianna withdrew her deposit – PBA didn’t rescind her admission. We were making plans for her arrival. We wish her the best in her future endeavours”.
While it was unclear if the TikTok user had withdrawn her deposit or not, hundreds of people commented on the TikTok videos in support of the student.
“As a queer student that just graduated from this school you have dodged the fattest of bullets babes,” one person argued. “You will be so much happier elsewhere!”
Another TikTok user added: “I wanna make it clear to y’all that just because it’s a private Christian school doesn’t make it right for them to kick her out”.
The original video has now had more than 900,000 views.
It comes in the wake of increasing attacks on LGBT+ people in the US, with Florida banning the discussion of LGBT+ topics in the classroom and several states banning transgender students from sports. A number of events at libraries were meanwhile targetted by protests during Pride month.
A spokesperson for PBA told The Independent: :Gianna withdrew her deposit. PBA did not rescind her admission. We were making plans for her arrival. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
