A high school valedictorian named Mason Bleu used his graduation speech to come out as bisexual, and it goes without saying that the video has gone extremely viral.
To round off Pride Month, Bleu spoke about the importance of being proud in who he is, and it went down excellently.
In his speech, he said:
For a long time I have struggled with my sexuality.
I've dodged it and ignored it because I wasn't proud of who I am.
But today I'm changing that. I'm proud to be a bisexual man.
After he came out, there was a huge round of applause from the audience, and he added:
I've struggled with who I am.
I was afraid that no one else would be proud of me, or support me.
But an important thing about being proud is that you should always be proud of yourself before you want anyone to be proud of you.
I want to thank everyone who came out today, because I just came out.
Thank you!
After he shared the clip to Twitter, it went viral, with nearly 60,000 likes:
So I came out during my valedictorian speech. It was definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever done but the reaction was amazing. Thank you to everyone who supported me!
So I came out during my valedictorian speech. It was definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever done but the reaction… https://t.co/DEPNx928bx— mason 🇩🇴 (@mason 🇩🇴) 1561820720
After the clip went viral, Bleu added to the tweet with a short thread, in which he expanded on the speech, saying the overarching theme was not hiding your true self.
The overarching theme of the speech was about being proud (it is pride month) so I decided that I couldn’t tell peo… https://t.co/gZJwV8M8OP— mason 🇩🇴 (@mason 🇩🇴) 1561820832
If anyone wants to talk to me about anything my DMs are open. I know what it feels like to be closeted and think th… https://t.co/8TZdbFAQWc— mason 🇩🇴 (@mason 🇩🇴) 1561820936
With that being said, you’re not alone. Reach out to me or anyone else you trust. I’ll definitely be willing to tal… https://t.co/fmRPrpgE5P— mason 🇩🇴 (@mason 🇩🇴) 1561820998
Many other social media users also loved the post and shared that they were proud in Mason for coming out.
@maasonbleu @keithboykin Good for you! Stay yourself, stay real!— Kathleen Cochran (@Kathleen Cochran) 1561858199
@maasonbleu OMG 😭😭😭😭😭 people also don't understand how scary it is to be Dominican and come out!! WE STAN! Im happy… https://t.co/xRDjNMRgdr— 👨🏽🎨Aneudys👨🏽🎨 (@👨🏽🎨Aneudys👨🏽🎨) 1561850958
@maasonbleu Welcome, Mason. Your courage is so inspiring. Keep being proud and keep shining your light for those of… https://t.co/9q512GjGC1— Darryl Stephens (@Darryl Stephens) 1561834425
Happy Pride, ya'll!
HT Mashable
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