Valedictorian Planned To Reveal He Was Gay In Graduation Speech Until School Blocked Him, Outed Him

Evan Young is the valedictorian at Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School in Colorado. The 18-year-old teen planned to reveal that he was gay during his graduation speech, but the school refused to approve the draft that contained the revelations. Instead, high school officials refused to allow Young to give the speech and proceeded to out him to his unknowing parents. Young says that the school didn’t just deny him the right to speak at graduation, they also failed to recognize his achievement as valedictorian in any way during the ceremony.

According to the Daily Mail, Evan Young was set to give the valedictorian’s speech at the Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School in Colorado. However, school officials wanted Young to remove a key piece of information from his speech, that he was gay. Young had planned to use the speech as a way to come out to not only his friends, but his family. However, things didn’t go as planned.

Evan says that he thought everything was fine until a few minutes before the graduation ceremony was to begin. Evan’s father, Don Young, says that the school principal PJ Buchmann called him and told him that Evan would not be giving his valedictorian speech because he had mentioned another student’s name and planned to come out as gay.

Don says he was taken aback by the principal’s words as he had no idea his son was gay.

“He’s Evan, you know? He’s never really expressed interest in either (boys or girls). He’s just a teenager…. But we had no indication beforehand.”

Though Evan says his parents are “very liberal” and was “totally OK” with his sexuality, the teen says that the way the school handled the situation showed that they didn’t “have a lot of sympathy for me.”

“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.”

Evan also notes that at no point during the graduation ceremony did they recognize him for his achievement as valedictorian. The school says that the reason Evan was denied the ability to speak at graduation was because parts of his speech could be seen as condescending towards the school and that ridiculing comments were made about faculty and staff. The school’s response also notes that a portion of the speech made “references to personal matters of a sexual nature.”

Despite the school’s opinion on the speech, Evan says it was supposed to be inspirational and about being respectful to other people. Evan says the speech started off with him revealing little secrets about himself such as homework he didn’t like or books he was supposed to read and didn’t. Ultimately the secrets get bigger and bigger until he was to disclose that he was gay. The final message was going to be about respecting others as you don’t know all their secrets.

What do you think about the school denying Evan Young the valedictorian speech?