A high school student came out in his valedictorian speech to wild applause

“An important thing about being proud is that you should always be proud of yourself before you want anyone to be proud of you.”
 By 
Alexis Nedd
 on 

High school valedictorian Mason Bleu put the pride in Pride Month when he ended his graduation speech by coming out as bisexual. In a video that went viral on Twitter, he spoke on the importance of pride and in being proud of who he is, and quite frankly brought the house down with some real words of wisdom.

"I've dodged it and ignored it because I wasn't proud of who I am," said Bleu in his speech. "But today I'm changing that. I'm proud to be a bisexual man."

Students, parents, and faculty all gave him a standing ovation at that point in his speech, and he finished his speech by thanking everyone who came out for his graduation, "because I just came out."

After his video went viral, Bleu wrote a short thread encouraging others to take pride in themselves and offered to talk to other people who may struggle with their own sexuality.

Bleu, who is an aspiring actor, also noted that he'd be celebrating coming out at NYC Pride over the weekend.

Happy Pride Month indeed ‍🌈.

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Alexis Nedd

Alexis Nedd is a senior entertainment reporter at Mashable. A self-named "fanthropologist," she's a fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero nerd with a penchant for pop cultural analysis. Her work has previously appeared in BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Esquire.

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