Gay teenager leaves Christian camp; Heartlight Ministry rebukes claims she was held against her will

A teenager named Sarah who was sent to a Christian camp by her parents, allegedly for having taken a girl to prom, has left the facility. Her extended family believes that this is partly due to the attention the story received over the Internet.

"We have just been informed that Sarah has been released from the facility," reads the post on the Save Sarah page on GoFundMe. "We don't know the details, but we believe that this page, and the willingness of you all to share Sarah's story had a great deal to do with this."

The explanation provided on the Web page says Sarah, 17, took her girlfriend to the school prom, but when her Christian parents learned of it, they sent her to Heartlight Ministries, a residential counseling program for teens located in East Texas. The post describes her parents as people "who believe that homosexuality is a sin and abnormal," and that the facility is a "Christian boarding facility for troubled teens to 'pray away the gay'." She was allegedly told that she would stay there for a year, with no phone calls, email, or computer communication.

"She is completely cut off from the outside world," it reads. "She tried to run away, but was caught by the staff and returned to the facility."

However, the Heartlight Ministry website refuted such claims, saying that the residential counseling facility is for teens who are struggling with "a wide range of behavioral and emotional issues."

"It is disheartening to see that this young woman has had elements of her story made widely public without her consent," the message from Heartlight's founder and executive director Mark Gregson reads, presumably referring to Sarah. "The assertion that this teen was held at Heartlight Ministries against her will, or that Heartlight provides any 'treatment' services for sexual identity, are categorically untrue."

Sarah's extended family filed a legal complaint against her parents and have raised funds for the lawsuit's expenses. It reached $64,252 of the $100,000 target within five days, but now that she has been released, they have halted the fundraising. They do not know yet if they will continue with the lawsuit, but if it is dropped, the money will be used to pay for attorney's fees, the remainder of whch will go to a trust for Sarah for her college expenses.

"We are understandably excited by today's developments, and hopeful for what this means for Sarah's ability to live her life as her true self," the post reads. "And we are hopeful that one day soon all the other LBGT teens out there who face rejection by their families and attempts to 'fix' their sexuality will be accepted for who they are."