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.
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