Valedictorian: Speech Was Censored For Mentioning Queer Identity

VOORHEES TOWNSHIP, NJ — The valedictorian of a high school in Camden County said he was censored by school administrators while delivering the end-of-the-year speech at graduation earlier this month. The graduate, Bryce Dershem, has told media outlets it was because he began talking about his queer identity during the speech.

It was when that part of Dershem’s speech was about to come up when his mic was cut off, Dersham, the 2021 Eastern Regional High School valedictorian told The Washington Post and NBC.

"I did feel censored," the valedictorian said to NBC. "I felt as though they were trying to regulate the message I was going to say and take away the parts of my identity that I’m really proud of."

"The principal came up to the stage, and he grabbed the paper that I brought and crumpled it in front of me in his hand,” he added.

Dershem told The Post the principal put a different speech on the lectern and said “I was to read that and nothing else.”

“I was on the verge of tears; I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I don’t know why just a reference to who I was warranted being cut off.”

Dershem continued to tell his version of the speech, the best he could from memory, and without the microphone’s amplification. He said that leading up to the graduation school officials had been opposed to him mentioning his queer identity, and the school’s versions of the revised speeches took out references to his mental health struggles amid the coronavirus pandemic as well, The Post reported.

Some even told him that graduation was not "his therapy session," he told NBC.

But Robert Cloutier, superintendent of the school district that includes Eastern Regional High School, denied Dershem had been asked to remove references to his queer identity, and said administrators always work with students on editing their graduation speeches.

“Every year, all student speakers are assisted in shaping the speech, and all student speeches - which are agreed upon and approved in advance - are kept in the binder on the lectern for the principal to conduct the graduation ceremony,” Cloutier told NBC.