Mitch Anderson, 2013 class salutatorian
of Belton High School in Belton, Texas, came out gay in an emotional
graduation speech.
Anderson delivered his speech last
Thursday. In a subsequent interview, he said that he had confided
in nobody about his sexual orientation before giving his remarks.
Reaction, he said, had been mostly positive.
In
his speech, Anderson said that he had been bullied “a lot”
and that for a long time he hated himself for being gay.
“I myself am guilty of self-doubt,
relying on others to give my life definition. But that time has
passed, and I feel the moment has arrived for me to be publicly true
to my personal identity. So now, I can say, I'm gay. It is both a
significant portion of who I am and an inconsequential aspect. It's
as natural and effortless to me as breathing. I couldn't change
myself even if I wanted, and believe me, I have.”
“I have been bullied a lot. I've
been called unspeakable things and relegated to a place of lower
class. I have been made to feel worthless, unneeded, a blight on the
world. People have mocked me, said that I was virtually subhuman.
So, for a while, I was in a very dark place. I had no concept of
self-worth, and frequently pondered suicide. I became so dejected,
that many times I thought of killing myself not just because I saw no
point to life, but because I had been convinced that doing so would
actually make the world better. And so, for many years, I continued
the cyclical, destructive thought patterns. This happened both
before and after I thought about my sexuality. And after I had
realized I was gay, I hated myself. I wished and prayed endlessly
that I could just go on with life normally, that I could be like
everyone else. Being different felt like a curse, an unfair sentence
to the life of an outcast.”
“There were moments when I believed I
was next to nothing. But I learned that what others think of you is
not nearly as meaningful as what you think of yourself. You cannot
owe the quality of your existence to other people. You must evaluate
your life and give it purpose. You must recognize that you are an
expression of the divine, a being made perfect through celebration of
your perceived imperfections.”