A Colorado Charter Academy blocked a class valedictorian from giving a graduation speech because he planned to out himself as gay.
According to a report in Dailycamera.com Evan Young, an 18-year-old graduating senior at Longmont’s Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School, with a 4.5 GPA and a scholarship awaiting him at Rutgers University, also was not recognized as valedictorian at his school’s May 16 graduation.
Young agreed to several requested edits to his speech by school Principal BJ Buchmann, but drew the line when asked to remove his disclosure of being gay.
“One of my themes is that I was going to tell everyone my secrets,” Young explained Thursday. “Most of the things were stupid stuff — books I never read that I was supposed to, or homework I didn’t like. But then I gradually worked up to serious secrets. My main theme is that you’re supposed to be respectful of people, even if you don’t agree with them. I figured my gayness would be a very good way to address that.”
The academy contended that Young failed to abide by pre-screening rules, releasing a statement saying, “… a graduation ceremony is a time for family and those closest to the students to celebrate success and express mutual wishes of gratitude and respect. It is not a time for a student to use his commencement speech to push his personal agenda on a captive audience, and school officials are well within their rights to prevent that from happening.”
Mardi Moore, executive director of LGBT Advocacy Group Out Boulder, said: “It’s wrong, and it’s not fair. The young man has all but a 4.5 GPA; he has told me that since a toddler he has worked for that honor, and they denied it. I wish I could say that I’m surprised, but I’m not surprised because I get to talk to youth on a regular basis who continue to be exposed to bullying and continue to encounter administrators and principals who do not understand much about the LGBT experience.”
