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When this high school valedictorian started giving a speech about being queer, the principal took the mic
CBS News ^ | June 25, 2021 | BY CAITLIN O'KANE

Posted on 06/25/2021 11:52:02 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

A valedictorian from New Jersey says his high school tried to censor his graduation speech, first making him remove parts about sexuality and mental health, then cutting him off as he spoke at graduation.

Eighteen-year-old Bryce Dershem, who graduated from Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, told CBS News he originally wrote a speech about being queer and dealing with mental health issues, but Principal Robert Tull told him to change it.

Dershem said he spent months in treatment for anorexia and didn't even know if he'd be able to graduate, let alone become valedictorian. "As soon as I heard that [I was valedictorian], I knew I really wanted to talk about my story and ending the silence on mental health struggles. And really giving queer people a voice too and letting people know no matter who you are, you're not alone," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: education; homosexualagenda; newjersey; nj; perverts; valedictorian; voorhees
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To: Regulator

> I don’t recall chatting about how I wanted to bang the hot redhead in my class at graduation.

hope you succeeded in following your dream


41 posted on 06/25/2021 12:24:03 PM PDT by SteveH
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Who wants to hear this. A valedictorian speech should inspire not depress people.


42 posted on 06/25/2021 12:24:09 PM PDT by ProudDeplorable (Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty. ~ Ronald Reagan)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
personalize_cute_rainbow_car_magnet_10_x_3.jpg (240×240)
43 posted on 06/25/2021 12:24:19 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents)(Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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For the record.........

When it came to graduation day, Dershem decided he was not
going to read the approved speech at the podium.

He walked up to the podium with a copy of the unapproved
speech he had written and began to read it. But about one
minute into the speech, Tull walked up to the podium and
took the microphone and Dershem’s paper.

Instead of reading the approved speech left at the podium,
Dershem tried to recite his other speech from memory.


44 posted on 06/25/2021 12:24:23 PM PDT by deport ( )
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To: Pollard
Appears he's made his choice


45 posted on 06/25/2021 12:25:53 PM PDT by caww ( )
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LISTEN TO MY SPEECH BIGGOTS!


46 posted on 06/25/2021 12:27:09 PM PDT by proust (All posts made under this handle are, for the intents and purposes of the author, considered satire.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Everyone has struggles. Thank goodness every valedictorian
doesn’t feel compelled to out their own as if they are more
special than anyone else.

Live your life like you want, and quit making me have to deal
with your constant TMI moments.

(too much information)


47 posted on 06/25/2021 12:27:51 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Folks, if you haven't yet, please start an automatic monthly for Jim and his crew.)
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To: BenLurkin

Just like the workplace, a person’s sexuality has no place in a school. I get that this is funny since i was once a teenager and had the typical hormonal drives, but as a parent I don’t want to have my kids exposed to this in undue time. And since graduation ceremonies usually are family affairs, imagine the 10 year olds in the audience, on the cusp of puberty, listening to this and then asking the parents or siblings questions.


48 posted on 06/25/2021 12:29:23 PM PDT by NicoDon
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To: Lurkinanloomin
what if the KKK wanted to show their dress attire, or A student dressing in drag?....the list is endless.


49 posted on 06/25/2021 12:31:52 PM PDT by caww ( )
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To: Hodar

Yes...this person just exhibited their stupidity...I would not hire them...they are too self centered to have anything or person as a customer....maybe they can be an “arteeest?”


50 posted on 06/25/2021 12:32:09 PM PDT by goodnesswins (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution." -- Saul Alinksy)
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To: OttawaFreeper

I wouldn’t care much about homos if many weren’t so annoying.


51 posted on 06/25/2021 12:33:46 PM PDT by jospehm20
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To: goodnesswins

> Yes...this person just exhibited their stupidity...I would not hire them... <

The kid has no worries. Some woke corporation will probably hire him as a diversity director.


52 posted on 06/25/2021 12:35:19 PM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

The “love that dare not speak its name” has turned into the love that just won’t shut up. (I forget who said that.)


53 posted on 06/25/2021 12:36:20 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: BenLurkin
He should be allowed to speak his mind on how he got there
How he got where?
54 posted on 06/25/2021 12:37:59 PM PDT by lewislynn ( How long before they replace Martin Luther King Blvd with George Floyd Blvd?)
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To: BenLurkin

“ Keep them in mind, however, when a school tells the valectorian that she cannot talk about Christ.”

Strangely enough, if it’s not a Christian school, I agree that it’s not a forum for personal witnessing of any kind.

If you are smart enough and honorable enough to gain this privilege, you should be able to give a speech rich in content if not in wisdom without involving your dick, your meds, or your call to follow Christ.

Just my opinion.


55 posted on 06/25/2021 12:39:12 PM PDT by Jim Noble (Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice)
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To: teeman8r

Ha ha that’s funny

Cute how you use queer in the original sense...

Never know what people say


56 posted on 06/25/2021 12:39:46 PM PDT by Regulator (It's Fraud, Jim)
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To: BenLurkin

There are children/minors there.

NO one needs to hear about anything sexual during a speech at a HIGH SCHOOL.

Being gay is what he DOES, not who he IS.

IMHO.


57 posted on 06/25/2021 12:40:08 PM PDT by Cowgirl of Justice
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To: Leaning Right

Oh, that made me laugh!!!! The student was probably expecting kudos, applause and admiration for the clown shoes for the rest of his life, not being whisked off stage in a humiliating manner!!!!

Did he get to make his speech after all?


58 posted on 06/25/2021 12:42:56 PM PDT by Cowgirl of Justice
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To: SteveH

Hah

Got close but she froze up just when I thought the great breakthrough was gonna happen

Ran into her a couple years later at a big desert party, ended up with a blonde buddy of hers

Oh Well, her loss, not mine...


59 posted on 06/25/2021 12:42:57 PM PDT by Regulator (It's Fraud, Jim)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
i know one homosexual....and the dude sees a psychiatrist...and takes meds.
60 posted on 06/25/2021 12:46:54 PM PDT by ealgeone
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