A NJ high school valedictorian was silenced briefly during commencement remarks about mental illness and his experience as a queer-identifying teen surviving high school.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ "All I ever wanted was to make people feel welcomed and unashamed," Bryce Dershem said. "So even though my school cut my speech short, having the LGBTQ+ community let me do it was amazing."⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Now, the school district wants a federal agency to review whether it acted improperly in muting Dershem and allegedly crumpling the paper copy of his speech.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ "There is an act of discrimination that is now being alleged against us," the school district attorney said. "...let an independent see if we did anything wrong. That's fair." ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Go to the link in bio to read more on this story. #lgbtq #pridemonth #valedictorian #highschoolgraduation