Texas Montessori School Rejects Toddler with Two Moms

Winnie McCroy READ TIME: 2 MIN.

A Tarrant County, Texas, Montessori school turned away a toddler this week because he has two moms.

Lone Star Q reports that 3-year-old Landry Kelly was rejected by New Beginnings Montessori School in Bedford after his moms, Dawn and Tracy Kelly, had taken a tour and attempted to enroll him.

The women asked the administrators if there would be any problems with their son having two moms, and were assured everything would be fine. But an hour later, they said the phone rang with a different message.

"It was the director, and she said, 'We are not going be able to enroll Landry in our school because it's against my religion, and we don't live that way,'" Dawn Kelly told WFAA News 8.

"We knew this day was going to come. You can't prepare for it though... to be rejected," added Tracy Keller.

As a private school, New Beginnings can legally turn families away but the school's director, Shamain Webster, told News 8 that while she didn't think gay families were right for New Beginnings, the school's owner -- her father -- wanted the women to submit an application.

They declined the offer, saying, "It's obvious this is not a place for him... we just want some place that'll welcome us just like everybody else."

This is yet another example of schools rejecting students based on issues around sexual orientation or gender identity. Earlier this week, a Virginia Christian school told an eight-year-old tomboy that God had made her female, and she should dress and act as such.

Sunnie Kahle made headlines this week after she was pulled out of Timberlake Christian School and moved to public school by her grandmother, who said that while Kahle is too young to understand sexual orientation or gender issues, "If my child grows up to be homosexual or transgendered, I will love her that much more."


by Winnie McCroy , EDGE Editor

Winnie McCroy is the Women on the EDGE Editor, HIV/Health Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all women's news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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