Dominic Sheahan-Stahl is a former student at Sacred Heart
Academy, and this year his younger brother was graduating. Dominic was thrilled
to have been asked to be the keynote speaker for the graduation, until....
He was un-invited when school officials learned he was
gay.
And the SHA 2012 graduating class wasn't at all
happy about the decision either, and made sure the community knew what was
happening by voicing their anger over the school’s decision to cancel
Sheahan-Stahl’s speech.
But Sheahan-Stahl wasn’t so angry, and he wasn't about to
be stopped.
He still gave his keynote speech, but in a different
place, where bigotry doesn't set the rules.
He spoke to some 700 people packed into Warriner Hall on
Central Michigan University’s campus Sunday afternoon and the graduating class
from the Sacred Heart Academy were the first ones to enter.
Sheahan-Stahl explained what it felt like to be
asked to be the Sacred Heart Academy graduation speaker: “You know those
moments in your life that don’t happen often. But the moment when something
happens it starts in the pit of your stomach and creeps into your heart and it
fills your whole body? I felt that feeling when I got my first professional job
and I felt that feeling the moment I was asked to be the commencement speaker
of the 2012 graduation class of SHA....I want you to know that feeling has
never ever left me.”
Sheahan-Stahl mentioned how proud he was to be speaking
at his younger brother’s graduation: “It’s amazing that’s it’s the end of
three generations of Sheahan’s at SHA and I think that it is a wonderful
tradition.”
During his speech, Sheahan-Stahl made sure his message
got across. “I choose faith over fear always,” he said with conviction.
At one time Sheahan-Stahl, who works as an actor in New
York City, compared himself to his friends who were getting jobs on Broadway,
and wondered if he was a failure, but he soon realized that, “To compare
is to despair. My life, like your life, is my own and it has its own direction,
time and pace.”
“Never ever, ever forget that because every single one of
you in this room and every person in this world was put on this earth for a
reason. You’re all wonderful, you’re all amazing and you all matter....“the
world needs what I have to give.”
He received a standing ovation.
And, interestingly enough, his being a gay man never once
came up because it was a graduation speech; it was about life, and growing up, and learning and becoming. All things the officials at Sacred Heart apparently didn't want their students to hear.
Faith over fear.
this is interesting, it's sad he was treated this way
ReplyDeleteHe showed a graciousness he was not shown by SHA officals.
ReplyDeleteBravo for standing up for what is right. Men of lesser courage and faith would have walked away accepting the bigotry and not have met the challenge in such a creative way...
ReplyDelete