Zander Moricz went viral last week for an inspiring graduation speech. In his speech, Zander wanted to talk about being gay to let other students know everyone should be who they want to be. However, Zander goes to school in Florida where a recent law has been passed banning teachers from talking about families that have two mums or two dads. The law is known as the "Don't say gay" bill.
Zander was told by the school that he was not allowed to say the word gay in his speech or reference the fact he is gay. So instead, Zander did a speech about another way he is different; he talked about his curly hair.
In his speech, Zander says, "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 do. I decided to be proud of who I was and started coming to school as my authentic self."
Zander thanked his teachers at Pine View School who he said supported him. He said he talked to them first because he didn't have other curly haired people to talk to.
"Noe I'm happy. And that is what is at stake. There are going to be so many kids with curly hair who need a community like Pine View and they won't have one. Instead they'll try to fix themselves so they can exist in Florida's humid climate."
- what is graduation?
- why do you think Zander wanted to talk about being gay in his speech?
- Why do you think the school told him not do mention being gay?
- How do you think that decision made Zander feel?
- why did Zander talk about curly hair instead?
- "I used to hate my curls. I spent mornings and nights embarrassed of them trying desperately to straighten this part of who I am." What is Zander talking about here?
- why was trying to "fix" himself causing daily damage?
- how do you think Zander came to realise it was ok to "have curls"?
- "I decided to be proud of who I was and started coming to school as my authentic self." what does this mean?
- What can we do about Florida's "Don't say gay" bill?
- what can we learn from Zander?
- why is this about No Outsiders?
www.no-outsiders.com
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