School admits to forcing gay teen to watch anti-LGBT propaganda as punishment
Lawyers for a school in Pennsylvania have admitted that staff showed a gay student anti-LGBT propaganda as a form of punishment.
Court documents revealed that the Milton Hershey School did force at least one student to watch the video which was created by an ex-gay activist.
It comes after a spokesperson for the school denied the allegations which they deemed “outrageous” last week.
A spokesperson for the school has said that “the discovery process is ongoing. Once witnesses are deposed, a full picture will emerge and the credible facts will become clear.”
Adam Dobson, a former student of Milton Hershey, brought a federal court case against the school as he claimed he was subjected to “gay cure” therapy.
He had apparently been caught watching gay pornography as a freshman at the school, which is known to be the richest private school in the US.
He was then forced by his “house parents”, who supervise the students who board, to watch the homophobic propaganda film One of the Boys as punishment.
The film, which was created by ex-gay activist Sy Rogers, has a warning for minors not to watch it.
Rogers claimed that he used to have homosexual feelings and had considered transitioning but stopped this to become straight and cisgender through prayer and Bible study.
Dobson explained that as well as watching the one hour film he was barraged with prayer and other methods in a move that he believed was to change his sexuality.
“We would pray together to have God help me from being gay,” he said.
Dobson, who attempted suicide at the school, was also bullied as he was told about the “terrible things that happened to other gay people”.
The student was expelled in 2013 after his suicide attempt.
The school said that the methods Dobson claimed he was a victim to are “a practice the administration would never allow or condone”.
“Unequivocally, the school does not promote or endorse any program that could be remotely characterised as gay conversion therapy.
“Any suggestion otherwise is a gross mischaracterization of our values and the environment on our campus,” a spokesperson said before the recent revelation.
