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Jeremy Jordan Announces His Cousin’s Release From ‘Pray The Gay Away’ School Amid The Teen’s Mother Denying The ‘Supergirl’ Actor’s Claim

By Trisha Faulkner
Published on: 12:30 PST, Jun 9, 2016

Supergirl actor Jeremy Jordan announced on Twitter that his cousin, Sarah, has been released from a “pray away the gay” school despite the teen’s mother denying that the girl was being held against her will at the school because of her sexuality. During an interview with Austin American-Statesman, the mother of Jeremy Jordan’s cousin – whose name was not published in the interview – stated that Sarah’s enrollment to Texas Heartlight Ministries “has nothing to do with her sexuality.”

“My daughter would be heartbroken that she is being misrepresented this way.”

According to Jeremy Jordan, his cousin was enrolled in the school on May 13, after she took her girlfriend to prom with her. Sarah’s family claimed, in court documents, that she was enrolled in the school to “help her with issues of depression, self-harm, drug use, and behavioral issues,” during the interview with Austin American-Statesman.

According to People Magazine, Jordan refers to Sarah as his “sweet gay cousin” and claims she is “trapped” at the school. Jeremy Jordan’s brother, Joey, started a GoFundMe page in order to raise money to rescue their cousin from the boarding school that is known for being a “pray away the gay” facility.

The GoFundMe page claims Sarah is not able to communicate with anyone outside of the boarding school. It even claims Sarah tried to run away from the school once, but was captured by staff before she could get away. Jeremy Jordan’s family created the GoFundMe page to raise money to pay the family law attorney fees of Christine Andresen from CHA Law Group, PC. The lawyer was hired by Sarah’s aunt in order to get the teenager released from the “pray the gay away” boarding facility.

Jeremy Jordan From Supergirl
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
According to Jeremy Jordan’s update on Twitter, it took just five days for him to raise enough funds and awareness to rescue his cousin from the “pray away the gay” school where she was being held.

Heartlight Ministries is the name of a co-ed Christian boarding school in Longview, Texas. The school provides residence for 56 “troubled teenagers” and guides them through an “intense” program which has a “90 percent” success rate, according to the boarding school’s website. The nine- to 12-month program the school offers follows “a biblical model of counseling.” The programs uses privileges and chores to discipline the “errant resident[s].”

Mark Gregston, the founder of the Christian boarding school, regularly blogs about the school’s mission. In a blog post from February, he advises parents of teenage girls who are dating other teenage girls not to, “blow up and label your child a homosexual or that label could stick!”

Over the last few hours, Jeremy Jordan has made it clear through his posts on Twitter that he supports gay rights and encourages his fans on Twitter to unfollow him if they intend on arguing with his beliefs.

Twitter users have been using #SaveSarah on Twitter over the past few days to support Jeremy Jordan and his quest to free his cousin from the boarding school.

According to People Magazine, they did reach out to the Christian boarding school for a statement regarding Jeremy Jordan’s cousin. The school did not immediately respond to the magazine’s request for a public statement.

According to the GoFundMe page, Sarah has been released from the facility. They do not, however, have many details on why. Jeremy does firmly believe the GoFundMe page played a huge role in her release. The money collected from the page will be used to pay any legal fees that have emerged from this incident. If there is any money left over after legal fees are paid, the money will be placed in a trust so Sarah can use it to start the next chapter of her life and “love whomever she chooses.”

Was Jeremy Jordan’s cousin really being held against her will at this boarding school? If so, why did the teen’s mom recently deny these claims and state that the teen being at the school has nothing to do with her sexuality? More importantly, what will happen to Jeremy Jordan’s cousin now that she has been released from the school? Is going back to her mother in the cousin’s best interest?

[Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images]

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