The Florida high school student who went viral for his coded “curly hair” commencement speech in May has since been thanked for his LGBT+ advocacy work by US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Zander Moricz went viral following his commencement speech in May when graduating from Pine View School in Osprey, Florida, who he said forbid him from mentioning his LGBT+ activism work or face having his microphone cut off.
Using “curly hair” as a codeword for being gay, Mr Moricz said “There are going to be so many kids with curly hair who need a community like Pine View and they won’t have one. Instead, they’ll try to fix themselves so that they can exist in Florida’s humid climate.”
He later called out his school for “censoring” his LGBT+ activism, having been the youngest signatory on a lawsuit challenging Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill banning the discussion of LGBT+ issues and sexuality and gender in the state’s classrooms.
Mr Buttgeig, who warned in February that Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill could “kill kids” because of already high suicide rates among LGBT+ youth, said in the letter dated 22 July that Mr Moricz’s advocacy would “ benefit people you’ll never even meet” and had “reverberated” around the US.
“I wanted to be sure to personally thank you for your voice and advocacy,” Mr Buttigieg wrote in a letter shared by Mr Moricz on Twitter on Monday, while adding: “Your combination of wit and courage has reverberated across the country in ways that will benefit people you’ll never even meet.”
The former Democratic presidential candidate went no to say that he personally owed his success in politics to LGBT+ activists that had come before him, and compared them to Mr Moricz.
“I am always mindful that my own service as the first openly gay Cabinet Secretary is possible only thanks to the activism and advocacy of other who came before my time,” Mr Buttigeig wrote. “There is no doubt that your example will open doors for many others who now look up to you, even as you are just starting your own path forward following your graduation”.
The recognition by the US Transportation Secretary comes after Mr Moricz was invited to speak in front of the US Education Department last month, where he delivered his original “curly hair” speech, as LGBTQ Nation reported.
Mr Moricz, who told news outlets earlier this year that Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill was designed to make LGBT+ students feel unsafe about talking about their gender or sexuality, is due to start studying at Harvard.
Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has meanwhile continued to receive criticism for his anti-LGBT+ and anti-”woke” rhetoric ahead of this November’s race for governor and a tipped 2024 presidential run.
