Congratulations Evan!
A high school student named Evan Young gave a graduation speech to remember by coming out to his fellow classmates.
His adorable speech is a reminder to be kind to one another.
Evan, visibly nervous, started his speech by telling his classmates that he once asked one of his female friends on a date. After having a few classes with the girl in question, Evan “gradually began to notice how adorable she was.”
He asked the girl to be his girlfriend, and she refused. Evan took the rejection in his stride, writing the girl the following letter:
My Dear Friend,
I’m sorry I asked you to be my girlfriend. I did not intend to startle or demean you in any way. It’s just that I’ve always seen you as more than a friend on account of the hours of class we’ve had together and the amount of time we’ve known each other. I just wanted to get to know you even better, and be around you more in these last few months we get t spend together before we part ways for the remainder of our lives.
I think you’re smart, friendly, and adorable, and you are the only girl I’ve ever had a crush on. I want you to be my girlfriend because I genuinely adore you, but I perfectly understand if you do not feel the same way about me. We will always be friends.
On a more serious note there’s something I would like to reveal to you. You may have already suspected this, but I hope this does not change your opinion of me. I am gay. I have been attracted to men for as long as I can remember and I have not had a girlfriend because I prefer member of my own sex. But I thought that, if ever in my life I am to refer to someone as my girlfriend, it may as well be the best friend I ever had.
Sincerely,
Evan Young
After reading the adorable letter, Evan tells the crowd that being gay is his “biggest secret of all”. Revealing that he was debating with himself whether to come out during his speech, and considered begging the audience members not to think any differently of him because of his sexuality.
“But then I realized: I don’t have to,” Evan says. “If there’s one thing I learned at this school; it’s that we can still be friends even if we profoundly disagree with each other.”
He says that he and his classmates have disagreed on many things in their time together, from gun control to taste in movies – but they have always respected one another.
Evan urges the crowd to hug someone with whom they disagree, before telling his classmates that they’ll meet again.
No, you’re crying.
Congratulations Evan!
Watch the video below:
