Longmont valedictorian silenced over speech disclosing he was gay

[*rfaulk34*]

(05-31-2015, 12:51 PM)fredtoast Wrote: The people claiming that a valedictorian speech is never about the valedictorian's personal journey have obviously never attended a graduation ceremony.

Clearly a lot of GED guys here.

I agree that there's nothing wrong with speaking on the personal journey as well as the group. I've been going back and forth, not sure if it's necessary/right to come out in his speech. 

It's hard to deny the polarizing nature of a topic like that and doing it during a graduation speech probably isn't the best time to do it. More for how it would effect his family and the relationships than anything else. That is a very personal thing and he should probably come out to parents/family/friends in a more personal setting before announcing it in a public forum like that. Even if he did it a day or two ahead of the speech. 

As far as whether the school should have allowed him...they could have handled it better. At worst, they could have worked with him to present it in a way that was acceptable to both sides.