A Kentucky student delivered an 8th-grade graduation speech that condemned homophobia and racism and described personal trauma. He was asked to speak after serving on the student council and initially wrote about dealing with grief after losing both parents. He described his parents’ cancer diagnoses, his father’s death in 2023, and his mother’s death in 2024. He recounted being bullied, missing school due to illness, and struggling with mental health during middle school. He said he was close to suicide after a breakup with his only friend. He stated that teachers rejected his draft as too negative and that a later version was rejected shortly before graduation.
"Apparently, this school doesn't know better than to give an angry gay kid a microphone,"
"When my father died, I was in sixth grade, sitting alone at lunch every single day. I was getting bullied by the people I called my friends. I missed an ungodly amount of school because of my dad's death and my mom's sickness. It wasn't very different in seventh grade. After my mom died, I was being taken care of by my sister, who taught me to clean around the house, but she was struggling with grief and other personal problems while in an extremely abusive relationship,"
"Not having friends took a toll on me. I was close to committing suicide the week my boyfriend, my only friend at the time, broke up with me. In fact, it still has, since my best friend Eva is the only reason anybody knows my name in this school."
"Daniel said teachers rejected the draft as too negative. He told Kentucky TV station WAVE that he had a version of the speech rejected as late as the morning of graduation before turning in one that m"
Read at Advocate.com
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