Eight-year-old Sunnie Kahle’s family says that she has never had any disciplinary problems. They say that as a student at Virginia’s Timberlake Christian School she has maintained a 4.0 academic average. School administrators confirm this. But Kahle’s great-grandmother and legal guardian Doris Thompson says that the child was nonetheless recently invited to leave the school anyway. Why? Because she’s not feminine enough.

Sunnie has short hair, a style she first adopted when she turned five and declared she wanted to donate her long locks for kids with cancer. Since then, she’s preferred jeans and t-shirts and has decided, Thompson says, “She didn’t want to wear her frilly dresses anymore.” Today, she likes teddy bears and bracelets — as well as collecting autographed baseballs and playing “rough and tough. And sadly, in a world in which the pressure on little girls and boys to conform to rigid gender roles is more ramped up than ever and eschewing pink is somehow suspect, Sunnie’s style would likely be questioned almost anywhere. (And yes, I am saying this as a parent whose daughters have attended hippy-dippy New York City public schools.) But in a strictly conservative environment, her demeanor could be interpreted as tantamount to revolution. Last month the school sent home a letter, which has been obtained by local news station WDBJ7, reminding Sunnie’s caregivers of its right to decline students who do not follow a “biblical lifestyle.”

In the letter, elementary principal Becky Bowman stated, “We believe that unless Sunnie and her family clearly understand that God has made her female and her dress and behavior need to follow suit with her God-ordained identity, that TCS is not the best place for her future education” and warned “We do not want her future years be filled with confusion and conflicting input from those we are guiding her.” [sic] In a written response, Thompson told Bowman that the child is being treated for mood disorders but that “Sunnie and her family clearly understand that God made her female. Sunnie’s psychiatrist states that Sunnie IS NOT homosexual. The doctor is upset that you being ‘Christian’ would label an eight-year-old adolescent. … God loves all his children and I believe that Sunnie is special.”