A gay valedictorian claims he was banned from speaking at Covington graduation ceremony has said he is not surprised at a video showing students allegedly mocking a Native American.
Christian Bales, now 19, claims that “it was a matter of time that something this school community did would blow up to this degree and I think they need to be held accountable.”
Just hours ahead of Mr Bales’ speech in 2018, the Catholic diocese ruled that he and the student council president would not be able to give their planned speeches at the school’s graduation ceremony.
Diocese of Covington spokesman Tim Fitzgerald told NBC News that the speeches were not submitted on time and “were political and inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.”
Mr Bales said that the Diocese of Covington “have the very last say in everything about the students.”
He added that the school is “notorious for being a not well-disciplined school.”
Students from the school were seen in a confrontation between them and a Native American war veteran.
They were pictured wearing Make America Great Again hats and laughing around the Omaha elder.
Nick Sandmann from Kentucky, appeared to be standing extremely close to the 64-year-old veteran’s face, while other pupils were seen chanting and cheering.
The boys were in Washington for an anti-abortion rally and met Mr Philips, who was taking part in an Indigenous People’s March, last week.
Mr Sandmann dismissed the “misinformation and outright lies,” and claimed the group only started chanting because they “were being loudy attacked and taunted in public.”
A woman claimed that she was harassed while she was walking along a path in Washington DC.
