LONGMONT — A St. Vrain Valley charter school’s leadership is under fire from gay rights activists and others for blocking a class valedictorian from giving a speech in which he planned to out himself as gay.

Evan Young — an 18-year-old graduating senior at Longmont’s Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School, with a 4.5 GPA and a scholarship awaiting him at Rutgers University — also was not recognized as valedictorian at his school’s May 16 graduation.

Young said he had agreed to several advance edits to his speech by principal BJ Buchmann. But he resisted when Buch mann told him to also take out his disclosure of being gay.

“One of my themes is that I was going to tell everyone my secrets,” Young said Thursday.

Read more of the article Longmont valedictorian silenced over speech disclosing he was gay at DailyCamera.com.