Actor Jeremy Jordan, who plays Winslow
“Winn” Schott, Jr. on CBS' Supergirl, on Thursday cheered
the release of his cousin from a so-called “ex-gay” camp.
“Great news!” Jordan tweeted.
“She's out! In 5 days, you helped Sarah get released.”
Jordan pleaded with his fans to help
rescue his “sweet gay cousin” Sarah, whom he said was “trapped”
at a pray-away-the-gay camp, Heartlight Ministries, in Texas.
Sarah's mother denied the claim in an
interview with the Austin American-Statesman.
“My daughter would be heartbroken
that she is being misrepresented this way,” said the mother, whose
name was not published.
According to court documents, Sarah's
family said that they enrolled her at the school to “help her with
issues of depression, self-harm, drug use and behavioral issues.”
Jordan's brother Joey created a
GoFundMe
page to raise money to pay legal fees associated with getting Sarah
released from the facility.
“Like any high school kids in a
relationship, Sarah and her girlfriend wanted to go to prom
together,” Jordan said of his 17-year-old cousin in a Facebook
post. “But when they did that, Sarah's parents, who believe that
homosexuality is a sin and abnormal, sent Sarah away against her will
to an East Texas Christian boarding facility for troubled teens to
'pray away the gay.'”
“Sarah's extended family and close
friends are trying to win her release through the legal system, but
it's not cheap. … Sarah needs your help. But this is about more
than just one gay kid – if we free Sarah we can help show that it's
not okay to try to make gay teens straight by sending them away and
using the threat of God against them,” Jordan added.
According to the American-Statesman,
Sarah's father and the family's pastor admitted in legal filings that
the goal of sending Sarah to the school was to alter her sexuality.