#Longmont valedictorian silenced over speech disclosing he was gay: http://t.co/QsPidsuDMF via @chasbrennan pic.twitter.com/1oJwAFz66P
Evan Young wasn't allowed to present his valedictorian speech at Longmont's Twin Peaks Charter Academy after the 18-year-old didn't edit out a portion where he intended to tell his class he's gay, reports the Daily Camera. In fact, he wasn't even recognized as valedictorian.
Young told the paper that he agreed to several advance edits from the school principal, and emailed his revised version, which still included his coming out, several days before the ceremony.
The principal called Young's father about his concerns and told Young's father that his son intended to come out as gay in the speech. Young says that wasn't ok for his principal to tell his parents before he had a chance to:
"I think what it mainly showed is that he didn't have a lot of sympathy for me, or someone in my position. He didn't understand how personal a thing it was, and that I wasn't just going to share it with people randomly, for no reason. I thought it was very inconsiderate for him to do something like that, especially without asking me first."
A statement from the school attorney says that graduation is "not a time for a student to use his commencement speech to push his personal agenda on a captive audience."
