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School Outs, Censors, Then Cuts Valedictorian From Graduation Program Over His Gay ‘Agenda’

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A Colorado charter high school is under fire for refusing to allow its senior class valedictorian to deliver his speech, after outing him to his parents.

Graduation time can be stressful, exciting, frightening, and exhilarating – often all at once. It is a time of acknowledging successes, and looking to the future. For valedictorians – those who achieved greatness and are chosen to represent the graduating class – it hopefully is a time for sharing words of wisdom and leaving a personal stamp on fellow classmates and the institution.

But not for 18-year old Evan Young.

Young was chosen to be the valedictorian of his charter high school graduating class in part for his impressive 4.5 GPA. He’s headed to Rutgers University on a scholarship, but for administrators at Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School in Longmont, Colorado, that wasn’t sufficient to allow Young to deliver his prepared remarks as valedictorian.

Young submitted his speech, but Principal BJ Buchmann reportedly censored it. Ultimately, Buchmann refused to allow Young to deliver his speech, and called his parents. Why? Evan Young is gay.

“One of my themes is that I was going to tell everyone my secrets,” Young told Daily Camera about his speech. “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.”

He says he planned to come out during his speech.

“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.”

Makes sense, and certainly not the first time a valedictorian has used his address to come out.

Principal Buchmann called Evan’s father and outed him.

“Mr. Buchmann called me and said, ‘I’ve got Evan’s speech here. There’s two things in it that I don’t think are appropriate,'” Don Young says. “One was he had mentioned another student’s name. And then there was his coming out that he was gay.”

Evan’s parents confirmed they did not know he’s gay.

“My parents are very liberal. I think they were totally OK with it,” Evan Young. “But I was not OK with it.”

Twin Peaks Charter Academy says Young’s decision to come out during his speech was just part of the reason they pulled him from the program and refused to allow him to speak. They claim Young “failed to follow guidelines of the evening by removing the sleeves of his graduation gown,” among other issues, but acknowledge the coming out during graduation was not acceptable to them.

Why?

School attorney, Barry Arrington in a statement says, “everyone knows that in our society high school graduation is one of life’s most significant occasions, and 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.”

Really?

Not a time to push his personal agenda on a captive audience?

That’s exactly what speakers do at graduation ceremonies.

Jeb Bush just weeks ago delivered the keynote address at Liberty University’s graduation ceremony. Did he not push his personal agenda on a captive audience?

Earlier this month, Michelle Obama spoke during Tuskegee University’s commencement. Did she not push her personal agenda on a captive audience?

Former President George W. Bush recently delivered the address to graduates at Southern Methodist University. Did he not push his personal agenda on a captive audience?

The very idea that speeches during graduations are not for pushing a personal agenda on a captive audience is ludicrous.

And outing a student to their parents is an extremely dangerous violation of trust.

 

Image via Wikimedia

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OPINION

‘Snooze Fest’: Internet Mocks Trump’s ‘Extremely Boring’ and ‘Low Energy’ CPAC Speech

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9 hours ago

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February 28, 2021

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White Nationalist One-Term Twice-Impeached Former US President Speaks to Right Wing Group From Nazi-Inspired Stage

For the first time since he incited an insurrection last month the disgraced former American president, Donald Trump, on Sunday delivered what many are calling a “low-energy” and “extremely boring” speech to attendees of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Orlando, Florida late Sunday afternoon.

The ex-president, who started his speech 100 minutes late, looked and sounded far older than he did on January 6, attacking President Joe Biden and insisting that his five weeks performance should be enough for “Democrats to lose the White House” in 2024.

“Actually, as you know, they just lost the White House,” Trump told supporters, adding: “I may even decide to beat them for a third time, who knows?”

The crowd, a mostly over-50 group of white Americans, roared, even though Trump has won only one election, and never the popular vote.

Trump’s speech was very similar to his past stump speeches, filled with racism, white nationalism, and lies about his opponents and the 2020 election that he lost – which he continues to refuse to admit. The “fake news” media, transgender people, and NIH Director Dr. Anthony Fauci were also the target of his attacks.

He also tried to re-instill the perceived victimization of conservatives that fueled his presidency, claiming for example that Americans will no longer be able to hire attorneys because undocumented immigrants are taking them all away from U.S. citizens, which is a lie.

Other lies included that wind energy is bad for the environment,

Some responses:

 

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'POLICY WASTELAND'

Trump Has Left Behind a Republican Party Almost as ‘Toxic’ as He Is: GOP Adviser

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15 hours ago

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February 28, 2021

By

According to a report from Politico, Donald Trump may no longer be president but the Republican Party he left behind has been damaged to the point where it has almost become as “toxic” as he is to voters, according to one former top aide to a Republican senator.

As the report notes, high-profile members of the Republican party are still pushing Trump’s “Big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him and have made that their focus going forward in lieu of proposing new policies that would allow them to win back the White House and both chambers on Congress.

Writing for Politico, David Siders explained, “Nearly four months after the election and one month into Joe Biden’s presidency, the politics of grievance has become the near-singular organizing principle of the post-Trump GOP. And whether at CPAC or in statehouses across the country, policy prescriptions for restoring so-called voter integrity have emerged as the primary focus of the party’s energy.”

That focus on stopping people from voting could blow up in their faces, but worse still, it means they have no other message for voters other than the fact that they are lingering on Trump’s loss.

Benjamin Ginsberg, a conservative election lawyer asked, “Tell me what the innovative Republican policies have been of late?” before adding it is “probably a sign that the Republican Party is mired in a bit of a policy wasteland and doesn’t know which way to turn to get out.”

According to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served in President George W. Bush’s administration, there is no evidence of widespread election fraud and Republicans harping on it is, “a big distraction. And I worry that it will continue to be a big distraction as long as a certain individual makes statements that it was stolen.”

Former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) adviser Kevin Madden was a bit more blunt in his assessment.

“It is a party that has been fashioned in the mold of Trump — Trump’s message, Trump’s tactics — and it is perfectly comfortable being a party that is defined by what it’s against,” he explained before adding, “… you become almost toxic as a party brand to larger, growing parts of the electorate. … The limitation of a message and a platform that’s just about disagreeing with the opposition is that it doesn’t speak to the broader concerns or anxieties of a big part of the electorate.”

You can read more here.

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Matt Schlapp Lashes Out at Critics of CPAC’s Nazi Symbol Stage Design

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1 day ago

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February 27, 2021

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The head of the Conservative Political Action Committee on Saturday attacked critics noting CPAC’s stage looks like a Nazi symbol.

Matt Schlapp made his denial after “Nazi” trended nationwide on Twitter as users discussed the stage looking like an Odal rune symbol.

Schlapp, however, did not apologize. Instead he said, “stage design conspiracies are outrageous and slanderous.”

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