--- description: A high school student came out as bisexual to his peers while delivering his valedictorian speech at graduation. title: High School Student Comes Out During Valedictorian Speech image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt890df5c9647355d9/6989ff61db2987ca25263c3e/student-comes-out-as-bisexual-valedictorian-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This High School Student Came Out During His Valedictorian Speech at Graduation  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 1, 2019 5:17 PM CUT  Image Source—Getty Images/Image Source  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 1, 2019 5:17 PM CUT High school graduate Mason Bleu [came out to his peers](https://time.com/4728994/ellen-degeneres-1997-coming-out-cover/ "undefined") while delivering the valedictorian’s speech at his school’s graduation ceremony. The 17-year-old student, who went viral on Twitter this week after he posted a video of him coming out at the end of his speech, used his speech to talk about [coming to terms with his identity.](https://time.com/4703309/gender-sexuality-changing/ "undefined") “I’ve struggled to be proud of something all my life, and since I’m preaching about being proud today it would be hypocritical of me to continue hiding,” Bleu said during his speech. “For a long time I struggled with my sexuality. I dodged it and ignored it because I wasn’t proud of who I am. But today I am changing that. I am proud to be a bisexual man.” In an interview on [_CBS This Morning_](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/high-school-valedictorian-describes-coming-out-as-bisexual-in-graduation-speech/ "undefined"), Bleu shared that he knew that it was “right” to share this moment during the speech and that he was proud of this part of his identity. “As I was writing my speech, I was writing about being proud of who you were, proud of what you’ve achieved in high school or just any accomplishments you wanted to be proud of,” Bleu said. “And then I got to the end and I realized there’s something that I should be proud of that I’m hiding from everyone.” Watch Mason Bleu’s valedictorian speech below. > [](https://twitter.com/maasonbleu/status/1144985203716345862) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5618380/high-school-comes-out-in-valedictorian-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5618380/high-school-comes-out-in-valedictorian-speech/"},"headline":"This High School Student Came Out During His Valedictorian Speech at Graduation","datePublished":"2019-07-01T17:17:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:59:23.415Z","description":"\"I am proud to be a bisexual man.\"","url":"https://time.com/5618380/high-school-comes-out-in-valedictorian-speech/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt890df5c9647355d9/6989ff61db2987ca25263c3e/student-comes-out-as-bisexual-valedictorian-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt890df5c9647355d9/6989ff61db2987ca25263c3e/student-comes-out-as-bisexual-valedictorian-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Scroll and mortarboard","caption":"Scroll and mortarboard","creditText":"Image Source—Getty Images/Image Source","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5618380/high-school-comes-out-in-valedictorian-speech/","name":"This High School Student Came Out During His Valedictorian Speech at Graduation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"New York City's Pride Parade is One of the Largest in the Movement's History","description":"Exuberant crowds carrying rainbow colors filled New York City streets Sunday for one of the largest pride parades in the history of the gay-rights movement","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/I6RtxeGu/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-07-01T14:37:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/I6RtxeGu.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5618380/high-school-comes-out-in-valedictorian-speech/","duration":"PT49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5618380/high-school-comes-out-in-valedictorian-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```