>> Teen’s hilarious senior quote puts New spin on coming out of the closet
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Maxwell Barrett, 18 ans, vient de terminer sa dernière année au Raritan High School, dans le New Jersey. Plutôt discret, le jeune homme n’avait jamais jusque là ressenti le besoin de faire son “coming out”. Ses amis le savait déjà et ses parents le pressentaient. Mais, pour le “livre de fin d’année” de son établissement, Maxwell a souhaité faire “un coup d’éclat”.
“Je suis un simple étudiant en art. Je n’ai jamais fait de sport, ni d’ailleurs intégré de club en particulier”, alors “comment laisser une trace” ou marquer les esprits ? En restant soi-même !
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Senior quote 💯 pic.twitter.com/ikzjmHijo0
— Maxwell Barrett (@maxxbarrett) 9 Juin 2015
[spacer] Posture impeccable, sourire convaincu, nœud papillon… le jeune homme a partagé sa photo, illustrée d’un jeu de mot suffisamment imparable : “Bien-sûr que je m’habille bien, je n’ai pas passé tout ce temps dans un placard pour rien”. Si l’un des responsables de le publication a d’abord hésité, suggérant que le citation risquait de faire mauvaise sensation, c’est depuis, et sur les réseaux notamment, un véritable déferlement d’éloges et bonnes intentions. Teen Vogue, huffingtonpost, Cosmopilan, TMZ… de partout dans le monde, Maxwell continue de recevoir des encouragements et félicitations. [spacer]
What a crazy few days! All over the WORLD my quote has reached and the love and support is so amazing. Just be you. pic.twitter.com/ncdv8MyTJ0 — Maxwell Barrett (@maxxbarrett) 13 Juin 2015
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Certes, Maxwell s’est inspiré d’une autre phrase qu’il avait lu sur internet, mais bien accommodée, elle a repris tout son sens. Et ses parents en sont très fiers : “Ils m’ont dit que c’était la meilleure citation du livre. Mes amis et professeurs également. J’ai reçu tellement d’amour, c’est juste incroyable”. Une sacrée promo pour son collège et un seul conseil donc, “soyez vous-même” !
Terrence Katchadourian
@stop_homophobie
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>> The quote, credited to “Unknown,” reads: “Of course I dress well, I didn’t spend all that time in the closet for nothing.”
“I wanted to go out with a bang,” Barrett, who is indeed very snappily dressed in the photo, told The Huffington Post. “I had never done sports, or clubs. I was always just an art student. I wanted to go out in a way people would remember me by!” He added that he didn’t come up with the quote completely on his own, but had rephrased a similar quote he’d seen online.
Barrett said he was “out” as gay to most people around him. Though he had never officially told his parents, he said he could tell that they already knew. “It was just more of a confirmation to [my parents] than a coming-out story,” he said.
And his parents’ reaction?
“They said it was the best one in the yearbook and that they were proud of me,” Barrett said. He mentioned that his classmates also loved it, and that even teachers had pulled him aside to congratulate him and comment on the quote.
Barrett said a yearbook supervisor initially told him they weren’t going to run the quote because of its “shock value.”
However, Hazlet Township Public School Superintendent Bernard Bragen could not confirm that happened.
“My understanding is that it was never pulled,” he said.
