Hateful lgbtq graduation speech
Man defaces messages of aid for LGBTQ+ students at BYU, uses homophobic slur
PROVO, Utah — In a video widely shared on social media since Thursday night, a young gentleman was seen defacing chalk messages of support for LGBTQ+ people at Brigham Young University.
It started with a "chalk protest" around 6 p.m. Thursday at 800 N. University Street, where supporters showed up to cover the campus sidewalks with loving and supportive messages for lgbtq+ students.
Sometime later that overnight, apparently after most of the crowd had gone home, a man showed up with a massive bottle of water and began washing the chalk messages off the sidewalks.
When Amber Sorensen, the female who shot the video, asks the man what he's doing, he can be heard replying, "faggots go to hell."
"I still kind of can’t think that I saw that with my real-life eyes, because that is something that you see on other people's videos," Sorensen said Friday.
She and her friend Anthony Guth were walking around looking at the chalk art when the incident occurred. Neither of them are BYU students, but they attended the event in assist of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Myself and Amber, we were just lingering around and reading
Florida High School Student Gives Graduation Speech Using “Curly Hair” as Code for “Gay”
LGBTQ+ activists and allies nationwide are speaking out against Florida’s hateful “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a new law that prohibits the discussion of sexual identity and gender individuality in the classroom. When Zander Moricz — the first openly gay class president at Pine View School in Osprey, Florida — was prohibited by school administration not to use the word “gay” in his graduation speech, he didn’t avoid the conversation. He came up with a clever alternative.
During the May 22 ceremony, Zander used the group of words “curly hair” to bring a powerful, stirring speech about his experiences and the injustices that the LGBTQ+ community faces.
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“As you know, I acquire curly hair,” he said while taking off his graduation cap. “I used to hate my curls. I spent mornings and nights embarrassed of them, trying desperately to straighten this part of who I am, but the daily damage of trying to fix myself became too much to endure.”
“While having curly hair in Florida is difficult due to the humidity, I decided to be satisfied of who I was and started coming to school as my original self,” Zand
Kentucky universities cancel LGBTQ, black grad ceremonies to comply with anti-DEI law
Kentucky universities are canceling identity-based graduation ceremonies in response to recent anti-DEI legislation passed by lawmakers.
The University of Kentucky (UK) in Lexington canceled its Lavender Graduation celebration for LGBT-identifying graduates and its Harambee Unity Celebration for black graduates, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.
“Following a number of federal and state policy changes and directives, the university will no longer host identity-based or special-interest graduation celebrations,” UK Main person Communications Officer Jay Blanton said in a statement to Campus Reform.
The University of Louisville (UofL) also canceled its LGBTQ graduation event in response to “recent changes,” according to a social media post by UofL’s LGBT Center.
“It is a university-sponsored event and was canceled because of the change in state law,” university spokesperson John Karman told Campus Reform.
The ceremony was originally scheduled for April 21 and planned to feature the presentation of an LGBTQ leadership award, along
Gay high school senior delivers banned graduation speech at Awareness Department in Washington, DC
A student who was banned from making any references to LGBTQI+ advocacy in his valedictorian speech at his school in Florida has been given a bigger platform to deliver his speech by the U.S. government. Zander Moricz, an openly gay student, got to deliver his banned valedictorian speech in Washington, D.C., after being invited by the U.S. Secretary of Training. “Zander Moricz wasn’t allowed to bring the original valedictorian speech he wrote for his Florida high school graduation because it included references to his LGBTQI+ activism,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, reported LGBTQ Nation. “So, I invited him to deliver it at the U.S. Dept. of Education. When students speak, we must listen.” Moricz has been at the forefront of the student movement against the "Don't Say Gay" regulation, signed by Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
In a short clip of his speech shared by Teaching Secretary Cardona, Moricz called on elected officials to pay attention to the students. “In my position, I am asked what can be done to aid the children in Florida. The ans
On March 16, Latter-day Saint apostle Jeffrey R. Holland was announced as the 2023 commencement speaker for Southern Utah University (SUU), a controversial decision that has sparked rigorous debate as to whether he is fit for the assignment.
In August of 2021, Holland delivered a speech in which he made numerous insulting and bigoted remarks about LGBTQ+ people. He called for "musket fire" against those criticizing LDS teachings and advocating for sexual and gender equality. He also condemned the "recent flag-waving and parade-holding" of LGBTQ+ activists, especially among BYU students and professors, stating that "we possess to be careful that love and empathy accomplish not get interpreted as condoning and advocacy."
But perhaps the most insensitive and hurtful part of Holland's address was his criticism of former BYU valedictorian Matt Easton's 2019 commencement speech.
"If a student commandeers a graduation podium intended to represent everyone getting diplomas in order to announce his personal sexual orientation, what might another speaker feel free to announce the next year until eventually anything goes?" Holland said. "What might commencement come to mean&mdash