Watch: High School Valedictorian Speech Cut Short While Talking About Coming Out

A valedictorian at a New Jersey high school was in the middle of an impassioned speech about his LGBTQ identity and mental health when the school cut him short.

As reported by NBC's 10 Philadelphia, he called the interruption a direct attack on his sexuality and journey to conquer mental health challenges.

"Bryce Dershem graduated from Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, New Jersey on June 17," 10 Philadelphia reports. "His microphone was cut off during his speech, which touched on his personal experiences with coming out, mental illness and disordered eating."

Specifically, Dershem's microphone was cut as he talked about coming out as queer freshman year. Then the school's principal reportedly walked up and crumbled the paper that had his speech written on it.

"Dr. Tull came up to the stage he grabbed the paper I brought and crumpled it in front of me," Dershem said, 10 Philadelphia reports. "He pointed to the speech he had written for me, effectively, and told me I was to say that and nothing else."

Only after given a new microphone, Dershem began reciting his same speech from memory to a cheering crowd.

While initially reviewing his speech before graduation, Dershem said administrators forced him to remove all mentions of his queerness and mental health treatment.

"I did feel censored," Dershem said. "I felt as though they were trying to regulate the message I was going to say and take away the parts of my identity that I'm really proud of."

However, the mishap is not stopping Dershem from wanting to inspire others to be themselves.

"Part of our identity, our year, our struggle is 2021," Dershem said in his speech. "We're still here though. We adopted to something we never thought possible."

Watch 10 Philadelphia's report below.