Graduating student cleverly disguises message in Senior Class President speech

Zander Moricz speaks at the Pine View School graduation in Osprey, Florida. Photo / Screen shot

A student in the US has bravely used his graduation speech to talk about the struggles he faced growing up gay.

After being warned not to say the word "gay" in his address, Florida student Zander Moricz replaced the word with "curly hair" and left the hall in stitches.

He was reportedly warned his microphone would be cut if he said "gay".

"I used to hate my curls," the 18-year-old said, after removing his graduation cap and showing his locks.

"I spent morning and night embarrassed of them trying to straighten this part of who I am, but the daily damage of trying to fix myself became too much to endure," he continued.

"So while having curly hair in Florida is difficulty due to the humidity, I decided to be proud of who I was and started coming to school as my authentic self."

florida high school class president zander moricz was told by his school that they would cut his microphone if he said “gay” in his grad speech, so he replaced gay with “having curly hair.” i am in awe pic.twitter.com/OqLbar5bwq

— matt (@mattxiv) May 24, 2022

Moricz, who is an openly gay activist, is the youngest plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Parental Rights in Education bill.

The new state law was signed March 28 by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and prevents teachers in kindergarten to third grade from discussing gender and sexual matters in class.

The law also restricts what teachers can say in upper grades to what is "developmentally appropriate" and goes into effect July 1.

Part of a class of several similar state legislatures introduced in Montana, Arizona and Tennessee last year, the Parental Rights in Education bill has been fast-tracked to a vote in the Florida House committee as part of Republican DeSantis' parents' rights agenda.

2 weeks ago, I told you that my graduation speech was being censored and that I needed your help. 48 hours later, 10,000 Say Gay stickers were claimed across Florida. Today, I give the speech. #AdvocateGraduate pic.twitter.com/iSVgADxEPX

— zander moricz (@zandermoricz) May 22, 2022

Joe Harding, the Republican state representative who introduced the bill, declared it was "about defending the most awesome responsibility a person can have: being a parent".

"That job can only be given to you above," he said, adding he hopes it will "reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding upbringing and control of their children".

In response, public policy director for Equality Florida, Jon Harris Maurer, said that "conversations about us aren't something dangerous that should be banned".

Chasten Buttigieg, activist and husband of US Secretary of Transportation and former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, denounced both DeSantis and the state legislature.

A report focusing on suicide prevention in LGBTQ youth found those who learned about LGBTQ issues or people in classrooms had a 23 per cent less chance of reporting a suicide attempt in the past 12 months.

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