Three Christian school guidance counselors in Massachusetts have been placed on leave after a school newspaper used anonymous sources to accuse the counselors of engaging in so-called “conversion therapy” and not using the chosen pronouns of trans-identified students.

According to the Christian Post, An attorney for Hector Santos, Delinda Dykes and Tania Cabrera says the Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS) student-run newspaper used anonymous sources — later cited by other news outlets — that potentially put the Christian counselors’ safety at risk by granting anonymity to the article’s sources.

Among the allegations: that Santos performed “conversion therapy” before school hours in Amherst schools, Dykes prayed against a so-called LGBT “demon” and “handed out chocolate crucifixes,” and that all three failed to refer to students by using their self-declared pronouns, according to attorney Ryan McLane, who is representing the three employees.

So-called “conversion therapy,” which is often used by churches and ministries to help counsel people with unwanted same-sex attraction and is known as sexual orientation change efforts therapy, was banned in Massaschusetts for minors in 2019.

According to a May 9 post from the Graphic, the student newspaper of Amherst Regional High School, the allegations stem directly from the “religious beliefs” of Santos and Dykes, who, according to an unidentified source, allegedly “frequently expressed their religious views” at school.

The source, given the name “John” by the Graphic, claims Dykes and Santos invited him to a “private prayer circle” before school hours. According to the report, the source became uncomfortable when Dykes prayed, “In the name of Jesus, we bind that [LGBT] gay demon that wants to confuse our children.”

The report also cited Facebook posts shared by Santos which referred to Adam and Eve, “gay conversion” and subsequent “freedom in Jesus,” and Santos allegedly “misgendering” a student.

During a public comment period at an April 25 school committee meeting, one member of the community, Gazit Chaya Nkosi, explicitly referenced “Christian ideology” as a threat to LGBT students.

Nkosi claimed she was asked by another anonymous person to follow up about concerns “about staff at the middle school who were talking with queer students about praying to make sure that they’re not queer anymore, using the Bible, using Christian ideology to discourage them from being authentic.”

Claire Coco and Ruth Killough-Hill, representatives from Amherst Pelham Education Association (APEA), the local teachers union, also spoke at the meeting, read from an APEA statement urged officials to “stop” any anti-LGBT comments at the school and to change the district’s mission statement to reflect its “commitment to multiculturalism.”