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As the row over Floridas controversial Dont Say Gay laws in school continues, a high-school graduates moving commencement speech to work around censorship has taken social media by storm. By replacing gay for curly hair, Zander Moriczs graduation speech has left people in awe and drew nationwide attention to his fight for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Taking to stage Sunday, Moriczs speech about the law proponents dubbed the Parental Rights in Education Act, which bans teachers and students from discussing their gender identity, went viral. The teenager, who is an openly gay class president, delivered a witty and evocative speech at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota without breaking the law but only bending it to have a greater impact.

I must discuss a very public part of my identity. This characteristic has probably become the first thing you think of when you think of me as a human being, he said. As you know, I have curly hair, Moricz said, taking off his tasselled cap on the stage at Ospreys Pine View School for the Gifted.

I used to hate my curls, he continued. I spent mornings and nights embarrassed of them, trying to desperately straighten this part of who I am. But the daily damage of trying to fix myself became too much to endure, the 18-year-old said.

Earlier in May, Moricz, the youngest public plaintiff in the lawsuit over Floridas controversial law, had tweeted that his schools principal had warned him that his microphone would be cut off at graduation if he referenced his activism in his speech.

There are going to be so many kids with curly hair who need a community like Pine View and they will not have one, he underlined in his speech. Instead, theyll try to fix themselves so that they can exist in Floridas humid climate, he quipped, making his point clear.

Known for his activism and fighting spirit against the law, Moricz ended his speech by encouraging others to use their power to fight back. His intelligent speech was only met with applause, cheering at the venue but even on the internet.

I knew that the threat to cut the mic was very real, so I wasnt going to let that happen and I just had to be clever about it, Moricz told Good Morning America. But I shouldnt have had to be because I dont exist in a euphemism and I deserve to be celebrated as is.

Moricz, who will be attending Harvard University in the fall, told the news outlet that Florida law is designed to make schools unsafe for LGBTQ+ people.

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Florida teen uses curly hair instead of gay to dodge censorship in commencement speech - The Indian Express