On Friday Jose Garcia was kicked out of the Baptist School of Adult and Continuing Studies in Belmopan by his principal because of his lifestyle. The news tonight is that the school’s principal Norman Willacey has assigned him a spiritual counselor. Garcia says that Willacey told him that if he undergoes this spiritual counselling, the school might reconsider its decision to expel him.
In a letter sent to Garcia on Friday, Willacey asked Garcia to withdraw himself but Jose Garcia told us today that he didn’t have a choice – he had to leave the campus.
Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Education Arlette Gomez says the matter is being looked at. Jose Garcia told us he feels that it is him against the world since no one from the Ministry has contacted him. He is worried that he won’t be able to finish his remaining year at the school to earn his high school diploma. Contrary to what Education Minister Patrick Faber told us last week, as of this year the Baptist High School in Belmopan is a grant aided school and as such the Ministry can wield its influence.
Jose Garcia ran into trouble at the school because of his effeminate behaviour and mode of dress. The scale tipped against him when he used the female bathroom. He says that though he was a born a boy, since age 7 he has felt like a female trapped in a male’s body.
