Gay valedictorian says school cut his speech

The Valedictorian of a Wisconsin high school says administrators banned him from speaking at his graduation because of his sexuality.

At Sheboygan Lutheran High School’s commencement ceremony last friday, Nat Werth graduated with a 4.0

Traditionally, as Valedictorian, he would have addressed his senior class, but he never got the chance.

“When the administration saw my speech, the first thing they said was they they didn’t like it, of course,” Werth said.

In a draft of Werth’s speech, he wrote, “I have trekked through the depths of depression, found that God’s love is endless, and embraced the fact that I’m gay. Absolutely no one should have to go through what I have gone through simply to come to the conclusion that homosexuality is not a sin.”

“I told them that I wanted to work together to write a speech that would be appropriate to give at a graduation, and they didn’t want to hear it,” he said. “They said that their suspicions had been confirmed and that they didn’t trust me to give what I had written, regardless if we worked together or not.”

Instead, Werth watched the salutatorian in his class give a speech.

"It's degrading almost and it makes the person feel terrible about themselves,” he said. “And with this, with coming forward to the press at my experience at Lutheran High School, I didn't want anyone to ever have to go through what I went through ever again in the future."

School administrators did not comment.

Werth’s father said he spoke to the high school’s principal, who claimed Werth not being able to deliver his commencement speech had nothing to do with his sexuality, just that school administrators did not trust him to stay on script.