Meet Devin Bryant, a 17-year-old high school senior of Colleyville, Texas. Bryant had attended Covenant Christian Academy since pre-school until he found himself expelled earlier this year. The reason: he’d come out as gay.
According to The Dallas Observer, Bryant’s year began innocuously enough, with the senior following a school tradition by preparing special artwork for his school parking space. The design he submitted consisted of a list: “Super Hot, Fun, Attractive, Fast-driving, Insane, Very Smart, Outgoing, Party Freak, Young, Gay (as in happy don’t worry lol), Pretty, Reckless, Humble, Pyromaniac, Fun, Gay (as in homosexual this time, sorry) Person Parking Only.”
Not long after submitting the artwork, Bryant found himself called to the principal’s office.
“I then had a meeting with the principal in which we discussed the content of the artwork, which I agreed to change,” Devin told the Observer. “And I promised to not be as vocal about my sexuality for the rest of the year.”
Then things got even worse. Four days into the school year, his mother Consolata Bryant got a call from the school. Devin had been personally expelled by the school headmaster, Dr. Tony Jeffrey.
Related: Girl expelled from Christian school for wearing a rainbow sweater
“If I would’ve come out and said that I was ‘struggling’ with same-sex attraction instead of saying that I’m gay, I think they would’ve had a totally different reaction, and I may have been allowed to still attend there,” Bryant adds. “The fact that I identified as gay is what they didn’t like.”
Consolata, Devin’s mom, fingers Dr. Jeffrey as the chief architect of Devin’s expulsion for discriminatory purposes. “Despite the resolution we had reached, [Jeffrey] had taken it upon himself within the couple of days he had been at the school to seek votes from the board for Devin’s expulsion,” Bryant’s mother says. “He secured the votes needed and thus was calling to let us know that Devin was not to report to school that Monday, the 10th, with his classmates. His exact words were that Devin had chosen an evil path that was contrary to the Bible and therefore was evil and he was only doing what Jesus would do. He offered us parent counseling. Not Devin, though.”
In other words, for those keeping track, Jeffrey essentially admitted to expelling Devin for being gay, not for any behavioral or academic infraction. The headmaster himself also appears to admit as much in a statement of his own.
“This Covenant Christian Academy enrollment document, signed annually, specifically outlines practices and behaviors consistent with the CCA mission, based on our deeply held religious beliefs,” Dr. Jeffrey said in an email to the Observer. “That includes adhering to the biblical principal [sic] that the expression of human sexuality is appropriate only within the boundaries of a marital relationship between one man and one woman. It also states that prohibited moral misconduct includes maintaining a lifestyle not consistent with applicable biblical standards.”
“Devin Bryant is an outstanding student,” Dr. Jeffrey concluded, “and we wish him every success in his studies, and in life.”
Following the kerfuffle, Devin Bryant has enrolled at Colleyville Heritage High School where he attends honors courses.
The case of Devin Bryant is just the latest in a rash of discriminatory practices by “Christian” educational institutions against LGBTQ people. Earlier this year, a 15-year-old student in Kentucky was expelled from her school for wearing a rainbow sweater. In September, a teacher was fired from a Christian school in Indiana for marrying another man. Furthermore, the Trump Administration has asserted in front of the Supreme Court that businesses and other private institutions should have a right to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans on the basis of faith.
missvamp
i’m so ashamed of my state & it’s pathetic excuse for educational institutions. ugh
Smith David
What in the F is this? What did I just read? This cannot be a real story in 2020. Are you kidding me? I can’t. I cccccaaaannnn’tttt……………nope. He needs to sue the hell outta these people. What in the world is really going on here?
dougie
Religious schools can do pretty much whatever they want to do. I applaud the kid who had the guts to come out to the powers-that-be, knowing that he was likely to be expelled.
Kangol2
I feel so bad for this brave young man, but I hope he realizes that he actually benefitted by getting away from these fake Christianists sooner rather than later. I am particularly glad he found another school and is attending honors classes. I hope he is able to attend college on a scholarship and succeed at whatever he dreams he wants to do. As for this vile Christianist school and principal, they are violating the very principles that Christ Himself extolled, since they are clearly not loving their neighbor as they would themselves, the Gospel of Matthew includes a long section on the mistreatment of others and how doing so keeps so-called believers from the Kingdom of Heaven, and nowhere does Christ ever mention same-sexual acts, though He does condemn adultery, using the Temple as site of profit and moneylending, and so on.
Cam
And the new justice Trump nominated for the court would say a Religious school has the right to do anything including discriminate.
BaltoSteve
The thing is RGB would have probably sided with the school on this. The parents and the students enter into a legal contract that says “I will do this and I won’t do that.” This poor kid did “That.” Is it moral? No, not even. Flys in the face of what Christianity is supposed to be. Is it legal, unfortunately, it is.
Cam
@BaltoSteve
But Ginsberg would have also said that since the school is taking money from the state it cannot discriminate, so if it wants, to, it must not take any grants, etc. in the future.
Funny how their religious “beliefs” seem to go away as soon as their wallet is impacted.
rbernard
This story made my blood boil.
It is a shame injustices like this are still going on in the south, but to be candid, Devin Bryant is a bright young gay man, who distinguished himself with honors and shouldn’t have to degrade himself to meet the expectations of superstitious church leaders, who worship the often angry invisible supernatural one. The truth is those religious freaks were scared to death of the kid.
It is ridiculous situation for him to be educated by people who are taught to marginalize and hate people like him. No one should be surprised this combination of circumstances wasn’t going to work out for the kid.
Though it was an unpleasant ending to his high school years, Devin Bryant needed to get his butt out of that school. Fortunately his story is getting around in the news and he will have a lot of support. It is a good bet new opportunities will present themselves and Devin Bryant will springboard forwards to something much better for himself.
Fname Optional Lname
Exactly!
Fname Optional Lname
So this 17 year old kid who has been with the school since Pre-K was thrown out for admitting he is gay? He did not say he had gay sex, he is affirming that he has realized he is gay. None of their bible do’s and do not’s apply! He is a young man who is finding his way in life, which is exactly what school is preparing one for. How dare they! They say you can’t come to this school because being gay is a sin = even though you can go there if you commit any other sin! This young man may be years away from engaging in a gay sexual encounter yet they have already assumed he has sinned and therefore he must be expelled.
The more and more I think about their argument / logic / lack of logic – the more I have come to the conclusion they’re all perverts! When you meet a straight person you certainly do not automatically think of that person having sex however when they meet a gay person their mind goes right to sex and that makes them perverted!
radiooutmike
I appreciate what you are saying. But there are as many viewpoints about gay=sin as there are Christian denominations.
Some churches accept it and don’t think it’s a sin at all (acted upon or not).
Some churches accept it but discourage practicing it.
Every other church left thinks it’s an abomination, no matter if it is or isn’t acted upon.
wooly101
Outlaw religion.
blackhook
Christianity is the biggest fraud in history. May a herd of diseased yaks pay ‘Dr.’ Jeffrey an intimate visit!
gaym50ish
At first I read “honors” in the headline as a verb, and as I read the story I was thinking, “Where does it say they honored him?” He deserves to be honored.
Liquid Silver
Expelled…how…oh, Christians. Texas. Righty-oh. The state with one drop box for votes per county.
Best of luck to him, the kids seem to be OK, though. My advice, Mr. Bryant? Move.
Jim swimmer
marriage as between one man and one woman?But what about between one man and several women one after each other ,as Trump did??So is he not a christian? May be….as every supremacist so as any racist…!!
rocknstan
Consolata wanted her cake and to eat it, too.
You can’t enroll your son in a so-called Christian school and expect non-discrimination.
That’s what “Christian” schools do–they discriminate.
Devin needs to get the hell out of small town, Texas, and enter the real world.
Cam
I would say the school wants it’s cake and eat it to. they want to take grants and other state money but want to discriminate.
Kangol2
Devin isn’t the only child or young person being subjected to this kind of discrimination, and not everyone can just “get the hell out of small town, Texas, and enter the real world.” You realize that, right?
Why not show some sympathy for and empathy with the person being subjected to discrimination and oppression rather than accepting the hateful framework that produced that oppression?
That damned school may be accepting federal or state tax dollars or resources and in so doing it has zero right to discriminate against or oppress anyone.
James
tony jeffrey is sick, he would have crucified jesus AND killed jews at auschwitz, all the while calling himself a christian.