Below is the text of a whole-school assembly I delivered in 2024 for Pride Month.
My name is Mr Cussen. I use the pronouns he/him. And I am proud to stand here today in pride month and say that I am gay. I’ll say more about pride in a moment, but first I would like to talk about its opposite: shame.
Shame is that feeling in your gut when you know that you have done something wrong. It sits heavy in your stomach and eats away at you from the inside. It’s a feeling that you are not enough: that you are a failure, that you don’t belong, that you don’t deserve to be loved.
We all feel shame sometimes. Maybe you do badly on a test or say something you regret. In cases like that, a little bit of shame is okay. It’s an honest acknowledgment of your shortcomings. None of us are perfect, none of us get it right all the time.
A little bit of shame is okay—but shame all the time is no way to live.
For the longest time, in our country and in our community, people who are different—people like me—were told that we should be ashamed. Not for what we had done or what we had said, but for who we are. Who we love.
Shame for who you are and for who you love is shame for something that cannot be changed. It is shame for a lifetime.
A little bit of shame is okay—but shame all the time is hell.
We are fortunate that in our country, in our community, such shame is rarer than it has been in the past. But it persists.
That’s why it’s so important that we are here today celebrating pride month together. Because pride is the antidote to shame.
Pride is saying that I am enough. I am not a failure. I belong. I deserve to be loved.
If you are standing here today and you know, or think, that you are gay, bi, trans, questioning or any other identity under the wide rainbow of pride… do not be ashamed. Be proud.
You are enough.
You are not a failure. You belong. You deserve to be loved.
To the rest of you, I ask that you be our allies. The shame I spoke about may be rarer in our community but it is not rare in the world. Stand with us. Stand with us against shame.
Join us in our pride—not just this month, but year-round.
If you hear shaming or discriminatory language, challenge it. If you don’t feel like you can challenge it yourself, talk to someone who can, like one of your teachers. Together, we can create a school environment where everyone is respected for who they are, regardless of their identities.
Our school’s journey towards the acceptance and affirmation of everyone is not finished. It is a collective effort that requires continual allyship and human kindness. We are in a better place than we have ever been before, but we still have a way to go towards creating a better school community.
Remember:
We are all enough. We are not failures. We belong. We all deserve to be loved.