Principal Threatened To Cut Off Grad Speech, Sarasota Student Says

SARASOTA, FL — A Sarasota County student has said his principal has threatened to cut power to his microphone during his May 22 graduation speech if he discusses his LGBTQ activism.

Zander Moricz, a Pine View School senior and the school’s first openly gay class president, is a plaintiff on a lawsuit filed against Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Department of Education and others over Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

He tweeted Thursday that “a few days ago, my principal called me into his office and informed me that if my graduation speech referenced my activism or role as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, school administration had a signal to cut off my microphone, end my speech, and halt the ceremony.”

Patch has reached out to Pine View’s principal, Stephen Covert, and Sarasota County Schools for comment, but they haven’t responded yet. This story will be updated when they do.

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The state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, formally known as the Parental Rights in Education bill, limits how gender identity and sexual orientation are discussed in the state’s public school classrooms. Earlier this year, the bill was passed by both the state Senate and House, and then signed into law by DeSantis at the end of March.

Moricz has opposed the bill from the start, helping to organize and host a March rally against the then-proposed law in Sarasota with Project Pride SRQ and Equality Florida.

He later organized a student walkout over the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, earning the ire of Pine View’s administration, he claims.

“When administration discovered that I was organizing a Say Gay walkout, they had all our posters ripped from the walls and told me to shut down the protest. They said they would send school security if I did not listen,” Moricz tweeted. “I held the walkout anyways, and it became our county’s largest protest. I won’t give into threats, and I won’t be silenced. I have a plan to fight back again, and this time, I need your help.”

Now, the organization he founded, the Social Equity and Education Initiative, has 10,000 stickers that read “Say Gay” to ship to high school seniors throughout Florida.

“We want you to wear them on your gowns as you cross the graduation stage, reminding underclassmen that we’re done with high school, not the fight,” he tweeted.