A young woman slammed a Florida university after the Christian school offered her admission but later withdrew it after they discovered she was a lesbian.
Gianna Palmo shared on social media what the Palm Beach Atlantic (PBA) University did to her, including receipt of their actions when the school denied that the discriminated against her.
Gianna Palmo is not taking it anymore
On July 6, Palmo shared on Tiktok a video that had the text overlay: “when ur Floridian college decides to not take u anymore bc ur gay.”
In the video that gained over 121,000 views, Palmo made a heart shape with her two hands while a song played in the background. When the song says, “I’m heartbroken,” she shakes her head and breaks the heart apart.
She then smiles and shakes two middle fingers at the camera. The caption of the video says: “how is this allowed in 2022??!! Anyway attack PALM BEACH ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY.”
When Palmo shared this to Instagram, the university’s official Instagram account posted a reply that they were “informed that Gianna Palmo withdrew her deposit from the University.”
“At no time did PBA rescind her admission—instead, the university was making plans for her arrival. We wish Gianna all the best in her future endeavors,” the comment read.
A receipt of the Florida university’s action
In response, Palmo shared a video featuring audio from a phone call that she recorded with a person that she identified as the head of the university admission.
She explained that the school had asked to speak with her about her Instagram post showing her and her girlfriend kissing in front of a rainbow Pride flag.
In the call, the representative said that it would be unacceptable to have her living in a dorm with other girls.
“PBA has a standard for conduct that’s related to PBA’s mission, philosophy, and standards for how we live our life according to the Bible,” the representative said.
Palmo later posted another video saying that after leaving a comment on her Instagram, PBA had blocked her on that platform and disabled comments on all of its posts.
Florida university allowed to discriminate
While some commenters on Palmo’s post urged her to sue the school for discrimination, this isn’t possible as it’s legal for private religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and religious belief.
Under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in education, a religious exemption can be granted for schools affiliated with a religious organization.
Alex Whitehead, a former PBA student body president posted on Instagram: “Unfortunately, I can assure people your story is completely legit. I publicly came out as gay last month.”
“The only reason it took that long was because I knew they could remove me from my position or the school entirely since Florida has practically no protections for LGBTQ+ individuals,” Whitehead said.
He added that when they had had tried to change the “homosexual behavior” in PBA’s student guidelines: “I was told it was deliberately vague so they can enforce the rule as broadly as they want.”