{"id":48133,"date":"2022-06-06T12:58:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T19:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=48133"},"modified":"2022-06-06T12:58:38","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T19:58:38","slug":"brilliant-workaround-to-dont-say-gay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/brilliant-workaround-to-dont-say-gay\/","title":{"rendered":"Brilliant Workaround to \u201cDON\u2019T SAY GAY!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-48134\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/SHH-Quiet_Censor_Dont-Say-Gay_Graduation.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"666\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/SHH-Quiet_Censor_Dont-Say-Gay_Graduation.png 666w, https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/SHH-Quiet_Censor_Dont-Say-Gay_Graduation-300x178.png 300w, https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/SHH-Quiet_Censor_Dont-Say-Gay_Graduation-150x89.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 666px) 100vw, 666px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s a class president, who is a gay activist and just chosen to give his high school\u2019s Commencement Address, to do when he\u2019s called into the principal\u2019s office and told he can NOT say the word <strong><em>\u201cGAY\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0during his speech.\u00a0 And if he does, his microphone will be cutoff, and the graduation ceremony ended.<\/p>\n<p>That was the dilemma facing <strong>Zander Moricz<\/strong> just a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p>Zander had been elected class president each of his four years at Pine View High School for the Gifted in Osprey, FL, and came out in his freshman year because of the supportive environment at Pine View.<\/p>\n<p>He has been an activist against Gov. DeSantis\u2019 <strong><em>\u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <em>(Parental Rights in Education)<\/em> bill, leading a school protest walkout in March along with organizing a similar protest in downtown Sarasota attended by hundreds of people, including the mayor and county commissioners, before DeSantis signed Florida House Bill \u2013 HB 1557 into law.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Moricz is the youngest plaintiff in a lawsuit against DeSantis and HB 1557:<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaplanhecker.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ECF%201_Complaint_Equality%20Florida%20et%20al%20v%20Desantis%20et%20al_22cv00134.pdf\">https:\/\/www.kaplanhecker.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ECF%201_Complaint_Equality%20Florida%20et%20al%20v%20Desantis%20et%20al_22cv00134.pdf<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As class president he was accustomed to being called into Principal Stephen Covert\u2019s office for meetings \u2013 but Zander immediately felt this one was going to be different.\u00a0 He was warned that if mentioned the word \u201cgay\u201d or alluded to his activism his microphone would be cutoff.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I am the youngest public plaintiff in the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d lawsuit. I am my Florida high school\u2019s first openly-gay Class President. I am being silenced, and I need your help. \ud83e\uddf5<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; zander moricz (@zandermoricz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zandermoricz\/status\/1523800052837195776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 9, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>I am the youngest public plaintiff in the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d lawsuit. I am my Florida high school\u2019s first openly-gay Class President. I am being silenced, and I need your help.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A few days ago, my principal called me into his office and informed me that if my graduation speech referenced my activism or role as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, school administration had a signal to cut off my microphone, end my speech, and halt the ceremony. (2\/8)<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; zander moricz (@zandermoricz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zandermoricz\/status\/1523800054959861761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 9, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>A few days ago, my principal called me into his office and informed me that if my graduation speech referenced my activism or role as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, school administration had a signal to cut off my microphone, end my speech, and halt the ceremony. (2\/8)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>At what should be one of a student\u2019s most joyous moments, Moricz now faced a dilemma he hadn\u2019t anticipated: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/2022\/05\/11\/lead-pine-view-class-president-told-tone-down-graduation-speech\/\"><strong><em>\u201cI cannot ruin something that hundreds of my friends have worked for, for years.\u00a0 I will not take away their moment simply because we have an administrator and a government that is telling us that those are the two choices.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the same time Moricz says he would also not compromise his principles. <strong><em>\u201cThat is something that I will not compromise over anything at any point in time. I will simply find a way to have both.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But Moricz gave Principal Covert his word that he would conform to the school\u2019s wishes.\u00a0 As the adage goes: Where there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way.<\/p>\n<p>Tasked with staying true to his principles while keeping his word to his principal, Moricz found the perfect metaphor for \u201cGay\u201d: His curly hair!<\/p>\n<p>During his Commencement speech, after a few brief introductory remarks, Moricz brilliantly transitioned to a metaphor for his being gay and the damage that Florida\u2019s <strong><em>\u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d<\/em><\/strong> bill will do to students in the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>&#8220;I used to hate my curls. I spent mornings and nights embarrassed of them, trying desperately to straighten this part of who I am\u2014but the daily damage of trying to fix myself became too much to endure.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>&#8220;So, while having curly hair in Florida is difficult\u2014due to the humidity\u2014I decided to be proud of who I was and started coming to school as my authentic self.&#8221; <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>He shared that a teacher, Ms. Ballard, answered his questions &#8220;because I didn&#8217;t have other curly-haired people to talk to,&#8221; and that he found support from other students and adults.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>&#8220;It&#8217;s because of the love I&#8217;ve drawn from this community that I came out to my family. Now I&#8217;m happy\u2026. \u00a0And 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&#8217;t have one.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>After receiving a standing ovation for his speech, Moricz was interviewed on ABC\u2019s <em>Good Morning America<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Florida student alleges he was told not to mention \u2018Don\u2019t Say Gay\u2019 law in speech l GMA\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bEd6RzctzO8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On a more serious note, he spoke with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/nbc-out\/out-community-voices\/gay-high-schooler-says-silenced-floridas-lgbtq-law-rcna28429\">NBC News<\/a><\/strong> concerning the federal lawsuit against DeSantis and the price he has paid for his activism:<\/p>\n<p>Moricz joined a group of over a dozen students, parents, educators and advocates\u00a0who have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/nbc-out\/out-politics-and-policy\/florida-gov-ron-desantis-sued-lgbtq-students-parents-new-law-rcna22411\">filed a federal lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0against DeSantis and the state\u2019s Board of Education, alleging the law would \u201cstigmatize, silence, and erase LGBTQ people in Florida\u2019s public schools.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cThe reason something like the \u2018Don\u2019t Say Gay\u2019 law seems like nothing but is actually everything is that when you cannot talk about or share who you are, there is a constant subconscious affirmation that you are not valid, that you should not exist,\u201d <\/em><\/strong>Moricz said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This fight against the legislation is personal for Moricz, explaining it was because of his school\u2019s support system that enabled him to become confident about his sexuality.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cI would not be fighting for these things, I would not be standing up for these causes in the way that I am, if I had not been able to do so at school first.\u00a0 I think in the same way that school is where you learn so many important things about life, you also learn about yourself, and that looks different for LGBTQ kids.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But there has been a price Moricz has had to pay for his activism.\u00a0 He has been harassed online and has received in-person and online death threats from strangers. \u00a0He even said strangers have come, unannounced, to his parents\u2019 offices looking for him.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cI do not feel safe operating as an individual on a day-to-day basis in my county.\u00a0 Pineview as a student community has been incredible for me.\u00a0 Sarasota as a community has been something I\u2019ve had to endure.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But I doubt this will be the last we hear from Zander Moricz.\u00a0 This fall he will begin his government studies at Harvard.<\/p>\n<p>The world could use more chutzpah like that of Zander Moricz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What\u2019s a class president, who is a gay activist and just chosen to give his high school\u2019s Commencement Address, to do when he\u2019s called into the principal\u2019s office and told he can NOT say the word \u201cGAY\u201d\u00a0during his speech.\u00a0 And if he does, his microphone will be cutoff, and the graduation ceremony ended. That was <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/brilliant-workaround-to-dont-say-gay\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4990,4970,4994,4989,4993,4991,4992],"class_list":["post-48133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-curly-hair","tag-desantis","tag-dont-say-gay","tag-gay","tag-lgbqt","tag-pine-view-high-school","tag-zander-moricz","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}