Florida Graduate Subtly Criticizes ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law in Speech

After the passing of “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida, high school senior Zander Moricz made headlines, filing a lawsuit when he was told by school officials to avoid mentioning his queerness during his graduation speech or criticize the state’s law.

Now, the senior class president of Pine View School for the Gifted in Osprey, Florida has graduated and found a way around the school’s guidance. He’s now speaking out about how the state’s law has silenced him and could silence other queer students and allies in the future.

Before graduation, Moricz says the school principal, Stephen Covert, threatened to cut his mic should he discuss being gay or anti-gay law. Covert said the remarks would be “polarizing” and inappropriate for school.

“It was like a sledgehammer to the face,” Moricz told WZVN-TV. “I could not comprehend it because it felt so backwards. I’m told that my human rights are controversial and therefore not appropriate for a school setting … for my speech at my school graduation.”

He says he followed Covert’s demands because he didn’t want to ruin graduation for the rest of his class.

Moricz used his curly hair as an analogy for his sexuality, stating, “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 endure. So while having curly hair in Florida is difficult, due to the humidity, I decided to be proud of who I was and started coming to school as my authentic self.”

He adds that he found a teacher to discuss his hair with because he didn’t “have other curly-haired people to talk to” before coming out as curly-haired to his parents and being met with love and support. He also urges listeners to use their voting power and that there will be more “kids with curly hair who need a community like Pine View, and they won’t have one.”

While it was an alternative way to insert a similar message into his speech, Moricz says it was a “really dehumanizing decision” because he had to find a way to covertly discuss his own identity.

“I just had to be clever about it, but I shouldn’t have had to be, because I don’t exist in a euphemism, and I deserve to be celebrated as is,” he says.

The Sarasota County School District doesn’t have a set policy for graduation speakers, but speeches are reviewed in advance. Student speakers are told that graduation isn’t a platform for political statements, “especially those likely to disrupt the ceremony.”

Moricz is one of several plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, signed earlier this year by Governor Ron DeSantis.

Screenshot courtesy of WZVN-TV