Notre Dame grads who walked out during Mike Pence’s commencement speech say they left because they felt “unsafe” in the presence of the VP:
Two University of Notre Dame students who joined the walkout during Vice President Mike Pence’s commencement speech Sunday said they left because Pence made people feel “unsafe.”
Luis Miranda and Aniela Tyksinski defended the walkout on CNN Monday, arguing that a commencement address is not the proper place to have differing political views.
“The walkout was in response to the fact that members of our own community felt unwelcome, uncomfortable, and even unsafe,” Tyksinski claimed. “This was not the appropriate event for this kind of political discourse..this should have been an event for all graduates and all of their family members.”
…
“Personally, I know Mike Pence’s policies from his time as governor, when he tried to implement RFRA (The Religious Freedom Restoration Act) without civil rights protections for LGBTQ people. As a gay man, this directly impacted me. However, many graduates here have been directly targeted by other policies — for example, those students and their families who are undocumented and who risk deportation to celebrate this milestone in their lives,” Ricketts said.
Via Doug Powers