Quote:A St. Vrain Valley charter school's leadership is under fire from gay rights activists and others for blocking a class valedictorian from giving a graduation speech in which he planned to out himself as gay.

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 said he had agreed to several advance edits to his speech by school Principal BJ Buchmann. But he resisted when Buchmann told him to also take out 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."

Young said he emailed Buchmann with his revised speech with all but the one requested edit having been made, and did so several days in advance of the May 16 graduation ceremony.

The school contends he failed to do so as required and that his presentation was canceled "to protect the solemnity of the evening and to preserve and protect the mission of the school."

A statement released by the school's board of directors stated that Young failed to abide by pre-screening rules — and also "failed to follow guidelines of the evening by removing the sleeves of his graduation gown."

A comment in that statement, attributed to school attorney Barry Arrington, said 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."

'I was not OK with it'

According to Young and his family, prior to the graduation ceremony, the principal called the student's father, Don Young — who has previously served on the charter school's board of directors — and outed the teen to his parents.

"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, an accountant, recalled. "One was he had mentioned another student's name. And then there was his coming out that he was gay."

That was the first time in Evan Young's life that his parents had been given a clue about his sexual identity.

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

"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."

Their son's sexuality, reported to them by their child's principal, was not earthshaking news to Don Young and his wife.

"He's Evan, you know?" his father said. "He's never really expressed interest in either (boys or girls). He's just a teenager. ... But we had no indication beforehand."

Initially, Evan's parents were somewhat sympathetic to Buchmann's decision concerning the speech.

"His mother and I were not sure that his coming out in a valedictorian speech was the appropriate place to say it, with grandchildren and 3-year-olds in the audience, and that's kind of what we said to BJ," Don Young said.

However, both Evan Young and his father said Buchmann only notified the student and his family a few minutes before the ceremony that his speech — or even a recognition of his status as valedictorian in the graduating class of about 30 — would not be part of the year-ending proceedings.

"On the Friday, the day before the ceremony, I had written him (Buchmann) a handwritten letter so that he couldn't forward it," Evan Young said. "I'd told him I'm not going to remove the part where I say I'm gay, because I am. It's important to me. And I said if he has any questions, he can contact me by email over the next 24 hours or so.

"He didn't ever email me back, and so I figured he must be OK with my speech."

Evan's parents, now almost two weeks after the fact, aren't happy with the way the matter was handled by Buchmann, who could not be reached Thursday for comment.

"The kid worked hard for four years," Don Young said. "Straight A's and everything else. He wasn't even recognized."

Student privacy

The controversy quickly reached the attention of the LGBT advocacy group Out Boulder.

Mardi Moore, executive director of 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."

As for Buchmann's allegedly telling Evan Young's parents about his sexuality, Out Boulder board President Ann Noonan said, "That is a total violation of his educational privacy rights, if that in fact happened. It just goes from bad to worse."

A meeting to discuss the issue took place at the St. Vrain Valley School District office in Longmont on May 21, including Superintendent Don Haddad, Assistant Superintendent Regina Renaldi, Buchmann, Moore and One Colorado Executive Director Dave Montez, who labeled the episode "disheartening."

"I would say to the high school principal, outing someone to his family without giving them the opportunity to have that conversation, is dangerous and it can lead to terrible repercussions for LGBT kids," Montez said.

Some reports of the Twin Peaks controversy had also reached the ears of Rev. Luke Grobe, a pastor at Longmont's United Church of Christ and chairman of the St. Vrain Valley Safe Schools Coalition.

"One of the questions that comes to my mind is, are our schools in place to support the students for who they are there, or are our schools in place to prevent our students from being who they are?" Grobe said.

St. Vrain Valley school board President Bob Smith said he had learned of the episode through Haddad, the district superintendent. Haddad also could not be reached for comment.

"Being one of the charters over which we don't set policy, I wouldn't have any comment on it," Smith said.

In the Boulder Valley School District, 2013 Fairview High School graduate Ted Chalfen gave a commencement address — he had auditioned for the right to do so, as he was not a valedictorian — in which he talked about his status as a gay student.

Chalfen's sexuality, unlike Young's, was already known by a number of his peers, and Fairview Principal Don Stensrud supported him as a featured speaker.

Hearing on Thursday about Evan Young's speech being scuttled, Chalfen — who has just completed his sophomore year at the University of Colorado — said, "As sad as it is, it doesn't shock me that this happened."

(05-30-2015, 11:12 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Graduation ceremony and speech are for the whole class, school, and their families. Not for this guy to overshadow it all and come out gay.

Pretty selfish of this guy.

(05-30-2015, 11:44 PM)Awful Llama Wrote: I can't agree with calling him selfish, because it's natural to be inclined to talk about one's self when giving any sort of address.  It's what you know best.  Valedictorian speeches always contain some aspect of the speaker's personal expereinces in school, and I'd imagine much of his personal experiences are colored by his sexual orientation and how he was viewed as a result.  It's the elephant in the room to him, I'm guessing, and he wanted to share.  

Having said that, in high school, you simply do not have the same free speech rights you would as an adult.  You can't wear a t-shirt that says "**** You" to class, and you have to have your speech approved before you can give it.  That's how the high school world works.   So, I have no trouble with his speech being censored for the ceremony.   It's what they do.  He will have many opportunities in college to share his thoughts on the subject.  

I do believe the "outting" was handled poorly by the principal.

(05-31-2015, 09:06 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I can understand the desire to bring it up in the speech, but if you are told no then that should be the end of it. I don't see it as selfish and we don't know the entire context enough to know whether it was actually "failing as a leader." But when he was asked to remove it he just should have.

All of that being said, I would not be surprised if the principal violated some privacy laws by outing him to his parents in the manner he did. I don't know what the guidelines are like on the high school level, though, so I couldn't say for sure. But even if it isn't a violation of anything, it's a dick move.

(05-31-2015, 10:14 AM)GMDino Wrote: Like Pat siad though...when its about a prayer there's a huge uproar and many have simply lied and included it anyway.  (btw, nothing says "religion" like lying.   )

I get he still has to follow rules.  I don't get why they refused to acknowledge him at all.  He did the work for the honor.  

(05-31-2015, 08:25 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: I hear speeches every year because of my job. There's always two students selected. 

One this year gave a boring cliche speech (when we were freshmen, getting lost, blah blah blah). The other was pretty good and discussed his time at the school and talked about his generation and their unique perspective on the world (though I disagree with him lumping them in with millennials, but that's a whole other debate)

Neither felt the need to mention their religion or make people pray

(05-31-2015, 09:21 AM)Devils Advocate Wrote: The position of valedictorian isn't about leadership. It's about inspiration. Two terms with seperate definitions.
In sheltering it's students and audience not because of controversy but because of fear and difference, while possibly within it's rights, the school failed. Can I get an amen?

(05-31-2015, 12:46 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: How is you being gay relevant to the graduating class?   With a prayer or thanking God at least the significant majority of the class can relate.   Plus as a leader you taking the conversation off you and PF putting it back on the class.  

Side note:  I don't understand why "coming out" is a thing.   Your gay who cares.   I don't come out about liking women.   Everyone acts like we should throw them a parade for announcing they are part of a fringe group.   

(05-31-2015, 12:49 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: What do you think one of the main pillars of leadership ..... Inspiration.  

This kid failed.  Hopefully he learns .  

(05-31-2015, 12:46 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote:   

Side note:  I don't understand why "coming out" is a thing.   Your gay who cares.   I don't come out about liking women.   Everyone acts like we should throw them a parade for announcing they are part of a fringe group.   

(05-31-2015, 10:14 AM)GMDino Wrote: Like Pat siad though...when its about a prayer there's a huge uproar and many have simply lied and included it anyway.  (btw, nothing says "religion" like lying.   )

I get he still has to follow rules.  I don't get why they refused to acknowledge him at all.  He did the work for the honor.