The Cumberland County School Board prevented transgender valedictorian Gray Byrd from freely speaking about the plight of trans people in his June 3 graduation speech to E. E. Smith High School.
Byrd had submitted a speech responding to the prompt "striving to excel" — part of the school motto — that included the line "transgender people are facing new levels of violence each day, and the voices of transgender children are being overlooked."
It also featured lines telling both trans and rural kids that they could excel despite their circumstances.
But according to a May 29 email sent to Byrd by Assistant Principal Jessica Black, Cumberland County School Board Attorney Nick Sojka struck the speech down. The email says Sojka cited board policy that disallows "political or social statements" in graduation speeches.
In response to questions from WUNC, Associate Superintendent Lindsay Whitley said Friday that while that "was not an official statement," the content of the message was consistent with guidance verbally provided to s.
Byrd was devastated.
"My parents have waited 18 years for this day and it's just been dampened by the stress of 'why is my identity political?'" he said.
He added that he deserved and wanted to talk about his community and background in his graduation speech as they serve as an important part of his life and experiences.
Byrd also repeatedly stressed that his frustration was not directed at the school itself — they have "shown me nothing but as much as they can the past four years," he said. "Their hands were tied … it's the County School Board that I have an issue with."
Recent years have seen other schools attempting to censor graduation speeches. Last month, a Christian high schooler in North Carolina reportedly faced pushback to religious language in his speech, though was ultimately allowed to give it. In 2021, a gay high schooler in Florida's mic was cut as he attempted to give a speech about his identity.
Likewise, Byrd says he was later instructed by school istration staff that if he "went rogue and said something that wasn't on the paper," his mic would have to be cut and he would be escorted off the stage.
So he revised the speech, replacing any mention of the larger trans community with his personal trans story. He also kept the inspirational lines for rural kids. It was approved — by a double standard, Byrd says. Why was he allowed to inspire rural communities without censorship, but not the trans community?
"We were not explicitly told what exactly was political," he said. "We weren't verbatim (told) like, 'You cannot mention being transgender in your speech.'"
But that was the implicit message, he said. He was able to speak about his own experience as a transgender student in the final draft, but the original draft mentioning the trans community at large was barred.
Nothing else about the two drafts differed. So he figures explicitly talking about the trans community was what resulted in the speech being denied.
Graduation speakers, he said, "have every right to say we want to inspire the communities that we … came from."
He says his mom agreed and tried to fight the issue, arguing it defied the landmark Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, which established that students have the right to express non-disruptive speech.
"The voices of trans people won't be silenced," Byrd said. "We have a right to stand up for what we believe in and who we are, and just because we wish to inspire others to do the same doesn't make it political."
A TikTok Byrd made describing the situation has reached more than half a million views and more than 200,000 likes.
Principal Larry Parker Jr. and Assistant Principal Jessica Black did not immediately respond to inquiries from WUNC.
