LE††UCE PREY
DeQuincy, LA – Emily and Jennie Parker said they were informed by school officials at the Bible Baptist Academy in DeQuincy, Louisiana, during a meeting with the school’s director and a pastor that their same-sex relationship did not follow the teachings of the school and that they would need to find a new school for their daughter, Zoey.
“We got called into the principal’s office for a meeting, they informed us that Zoey wouldn’t be able to go to school there anymore because of our lifestyle choices,” said Jennifer Parker, 31, to KPLC, a local news affiliate.
Emily Parker, 28, said that the meeting took place only two days before the school year started. During the conference, she and her wife also were told that, as a religious-based school, the school would teach students that marriage was between a man and a woman.
Jennifer Parker and Emily Parker are in a same-sex marriage. They adopted Zoe, Jennifer’s 5-year-old niece, after the girl’s father was in an industrial accident in 2020.
“She lost her father, she lost her mother and now she’s losing her school which she loves very much,” Jennifer Parker said.
Jennifer Parker says they’ve received overwhelming support from community, and they are grateful. They say they have offers from other Christian schools in the area. “It’s a blessing in disguise,” Jennifer Parker said. “We have an opportunity to bring her to a school which is a little closer and it’s a new opportunity for her to make new friends.”
