06/04/15 06/04/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! cook's after approximately three weeks, the cia did more aggressive treatment without unnecessary conversation. majid khan subjected to involuntary rectal feeding and rectal hydration which included two bottles of ensure. amy: majid khan graduated from high school outside of baltimore in 1999.

today he is a prisoner at guantanamo. shocking new details about his torture have just been declassified. we will speak to his attorney. then part two of our interview with evan young, the colorado high school valedictorian who was barred from speaking at graduation in which he planned to come out. >> you may have already suspected this, but i hope this does not change your opinion of me. i am gay. i have been attracted to men for as long as i can remember and i've never had a girlfriend because i prefer members of my own sex. >> we will also be joined by democratic congressman jared polis of colorado, the first openly gay parent member of congress. he is calling for an investigation of evan young's school. >> this day and age here in a public school that this kind of discrimination purely on the basis of his sexual orientation is able to occur. amy: all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ukraine has seen its worst violence since a ceasefire was brokered to end months of fighting in february. both the ukrainian government and russian-backed separatists accused the other of launching attacks near the city of donetsk. at least 15 people were killed including civilians. ukrainian president poroshenko has warned of a colossal threat that hostilities might resume. the death toll from india's heatwave has topped 2300, making it the fifth deadliest in recorded history. india's earth sciences minister, harsh vardhan, said -- "it's not just an unusually hot summer, it is climate change." amnesty international is accusing the nigerian military of war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity in its fight with the boko horam. a new report says more than 8000 prisoners have been killed since

2011 and hundreds more rounded up and shot dead. amnesty's anna neistat said top commanders should be held responsible. >> presenting cases of extradition executions, torture them a enforced disappearance a mess of arbitrary arrest. most important, industry reports we named officials who are individually responsible or commit responsibility for these violations. these are some of the highest levels of military commanders in nigeria and first and foremost, we're calling for an investigation to establish the responsibility and to bring them to justice. amy: united nations secretary general ban ki-moon has announced an independent review of sexual abuse. the reportedly abused children

they were supposed to be protecting. even after it was brought to senior human officials, the u.n. never reported it to french authorities, nor did it do anything to immediately stop the abuse. u.n. spokesperson stephane dujarric announced the probe. >> the secretary-general is deeply disturbed by the allegations of sexual abuse by soldiers in the car as well as allegations as how this was handled to the various parts of the u.n. system involved. his intention in setting up this review is to ensure that the united nations does not fail leaveck rims of sexual abuse -- does not fail the victims of sexual abuse, especially when committed by those meant to protect them. amy: you can go to democracynow.org for more and the story. hundreds of thousands of people marched across argentina on wednesday to demand an end to gender-based violence. local activists say there were 277 femicides in argentina last year and over since 2008.

1800 a massive crowded surrounded the national congress in buenos aires along with marches in dozens of cities. similar protests were also held in chile, mexico, and uruguay. prosecutors say a man shot dead by law enforcement in boston this week was involved in a plot to behead police officers. agents had been monitoring 26-year-old usaama rahim as part of a terrorism probe when they say they overheard him talking about beheading an officer. rahim was shot dead after allegedly lunging at two officers with a knife. on wednesday, a relative of rahim's identified as david wright was arrested and charged with conspiracy. anonymous officials say rahim became radicalized by online jihadist sites and was inspired by the self proclaimed islamic state. briefing reporters, boston police commissioner william evans said he had been under 24-hour surveillance. >> this guy required 24/7

surveillance. we thought the threat was severe enough that we had to approach him. we never expected what happened, but, you know, hopefully, it will all come out later so there is a better understanding of the level of threat. i can't go into anything more than -- you know, it was a very serious threat and that is why we did not take it lightly. amy: north carolina lawmakers have approved a bill that would impose a 72 hour waiting period on women seeking an abortion. republican governor pat mccrory says he plans to sign it into law. texas has executed a death row prisoner convicted of the 1983 killings of four men. lester bower is the oldest person executed in texas in three decades at 67 years old. bower had always maintained his innocence. in march, the supreme court rejected a review of the case but three justices said they favored throwing out his death sentence. cleveland investigators have

submitted their findings on the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old tamir rice six months ago. tamir was playing with a toy replica gun when an officer shot him dead seconds after pulling up in his vehicle. prosecutors are expected to review the case and present it to a grand jury. a madison, wisconsin, police officer will not face internal discipline for fatally shooting an unarmed african-american teenager. tony robinson was shot dead in march after officer matt kenny forced his way into an apartment following a disturbance. kenny says robinson attacked him upon his entry. prosecutors declined to charge kenny last month. on wednesday, police said he has also been cleared by the madison police department's internal affairs unit. former rhode island governor lincoln chafee has entered the race for the 2016 democratic presidential nomination. chafee kicked off his campaign at george mason university in virginia.

>> and certainly, we have many facing america. today i am formally entering the race for the democratic nomination for president. thank you. [applause] if we as leaders show good judgment and make good decisions, we can fix much of what is ailing us. we must deliberately and carefully extricate ourselves from expensive wars. amy: chafee previously served as a republican senator before switching to the democrats in he was the only republican 2013. senator to vote against the iraq war. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. shocking new details have emerged about how the cia

tortured a former resident of baltimore, maryland who has been in u.s. detention since 2003 first at a cia black site, then at guantanamo. majid khan is the only known legal resident of the united states to be held at guantanamo. over the years, khan has detailed u.s. torture practices to his attorneys at the center for constitutional rights but until recently much of the information remained classified. according to the declassified notes, he was waterboarded twice, hung my name wouldn't be in for days on end, spent much of 20 -- 2003 total darkness and experienced repeated beatings and threats to beat him with tools, including a hammer. majid khan also faced rectal feeding. part of his torture was outlined in last year's senate torture report, but the declassified information provides new details on the abuse. amy: majid khan is a 35-year-old

pakistani citizen who graduated from owings mills high school baltimore. he was captured in pakistan in 2003 and then reportedly held at an unidentified cia black site from 2003 to 2006. in the newly released documents about his interrogations at the cia black site, khan says agents told him, "son, we are going to take care of you. we are going to send you to a place you cannot imagine." he later confessed to delivering $50,000 to al qaeda operatives in indonesia and to plotting with 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed to serve as a sleeper agent for al qaeda in the united states. nermeen: in 2012, khan pleaded guilty to conspiracy, material support, murder and spying charges in exchange for serving as a government witness. well, for more, we are joined by the lawyer who majid khan first

-- wells dixon is a senior staff attorney with the center for constitutional rights, where he represents guantanamo detainee majid khan. >> in march 2003, majid khan disappeared. his family had no idea where he was. he wasn't heard from until he appeared in guantánamo in september 2006. shortly before he arrived in guantánamo, during the course of a criminal case that was being tried in new york, his name came up. the government introduced at that trial stipulation, a written document that acknowledged they had him in custody. the document purported to describe things he would say about what was going on in the trial. that was the first time that his family knew he was in u.s. custody. and after that, we were in contact with his family and they asked us to file a case to challenge the legality of his

detention. nermeen: in 2012 khan signed a plea agreement. could you explain what it means to sign a plea agreement and what the impact that has had on his case? >> for the many years that we were representing majid, he was challenging the legality of his detention. in early 2012, he was charged by military commission with various offenses. he ultimately signed an agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with the government. he became a cooperating witness for the government. and he did that, really, for one central reason. and that is that he was sorry for the things he had done. he really wanted to make up for the things he had done. and this was a way for him to accept responsibility, to really move forward with his life and to hopefully have some chance at a life after guantánamo. he did not want his cia torture

and his time at guantanamo to be the last chapter written in his life. nermeen: can you talk about the information now that has been declassified what majid khan alleges was done to him by cia interrogators? some of this material is quite stunning. >> it is horrifying. as you mentioned earlier, he was waterboarded twice in 2003. he was subjected to sexual abuse. he was subjected to extreme sensory deprivation. and he suffered tremendously as a result of this. it is absolutely horrifying what was done to him. nermeen: i want to turn to a comment by john yoo who played a key role in drafting the memos. in december, he appeared on cnn after the release of the report. he was asked about the allegations of torture, which include about majid khan such as forced rectal feeding.

this was his response. >> i agree. if these things happen as they're described in the report as you describe them those were not authorized by the justice department. they were not supposed to be done. and those people who did those are at risk legally because they were acting outside their orders. nermeen: that was john yoo on cnn. could you comment? >> there you have it. in the senate report, the result disclosed report that majid was raped. you have the lawyer who literally wrote the memos that allowed the torture to occur saying, that is not something that he authorized and something that would violate the anti-torture statute. nermeen: what about the fact you said earlier that he regretted he wanted to compensate for what he had done? how do we take his crimes of mission given the fact, for whatever it is he is admitted to, they all came after he was subjected to this torture, is that correct? >> yes, he agreed to plead

guilty and cooperate after being tortured. and what is important to understand about that is that he agreed to plead guilty despite what it happened to him, not because of what had happened to him. as you might imagine, the decision to trust the government, to take a leap of faith, to use the words he used in his guilty plea, was very difficult given the fact he up and waterboarded and raped and subjected to all of these other horrors. he truly believes that that is something that is necessary for him to do, to put his prior life behind him, to move on with his life. amy: wells dixon can you talk about how you as an attorney representing him knowing what has happened to him over the years, how you work these deals with the government about what you can and cannot reveal or say? >> right, with the center for constitutional rights has long been on record opposing guantánamo, opposing the cia torture program and raising

serious objections to the military commission system. having said that, our first interest always is the best interest of our clients. so i as counsel for majid khan have to do what is in his best legal interest and ultimately, what he directs me to do. and he made a decision that he wanted to plead guilty and cooperate, that he really wanted to try to atone for what he is done. and this is the way that he can do that. he is committed to fulfilling his obligation to cooperate in the commission system. but if the government were to decide, for example, that it wanted to transfer his cooperation here to criminal court in the united states, he would certainly be receptive to that. i as his counsel think there are policy reasons why that might be a good thing to do, notwithstanding the flaws even in our criminal justice system. but it is up to the government.

it is really up to the government whether that happens. amy: i want to read from the reuters report about the newly released details of majid khan's treatment in a cia black site. "in a july 2003 session, he said cia guards hung him from a metal pole for several days and repeatedly poured ice water on his mouth, nose, and genitals. at one point, he said, they forced him to sit naked on a wooden box during a 15 minute videotaped interrogation. after that, he was shackled to a wall with prevented him from sleeping. when a doctor arrived to check his condition, majid khan begged for help, he said. instead, the doctor instructed him to again hang him from the metal bar. after hanging from the pole for 24 hours khan was forced to write a confession while being videotaped naked. that is a next up from a report by reuters. can you comment on this overall

wells, but also talk about the role of doctors and psychologists or what you heard about what happened in this cia black site? >> one of the things that we got declassified was majid's commentary on what had happened to him, how it felt and what he was experiencing as these things occurred. one of the things you said is that doctors were among the worst torturers that he had. you have given that one example is a perfect illustration where you have a medical professional who is not only monitoring him, but monitoring him for the purpose of deciding when he can go back and be tortured even more. it is horrifying. it is a betrayal of the medical profession. and it is unlawful. that is the bottom line here. what happened to majid khan was unlawful. if you accept the notion that the united states is at war which is of course debatable

but if you accept that notion, these are very clear war crimes. torture, rape, these are war crimes. they need to be prosecuted. there needs to be a doj investigation. amy: how did he know the person was a doctor? >> i don't know the answer to that question. nermeen: majid khan is the only high valued the cheney u.s. legal representation, is that right, in guantánamo? >> know, there are several who have legal representation. of the zeta has counsel. there are number of men who have been charged a military commission. the alleged 9/11 plotters, the alleged cole bomber. there are several councils who are represented. nermeen: what is it you are calling for? what should be done now? >> we're calling for greater transparency and accountability for what happened in the torture program. every time there is a public

disclosure about what has happened, we see more and more evidence of the secretary that occurred in the treasury that has occurred. at the cia. and it just gets worse. once we think we've got to the bottom of it, there's a new and worth time revelation, so there needs to be more accountable in. we need to see the entire senate report. and there needs to be justice department prosecutions. that is the only way to get to the bottom of what happened. amy: speaking about the release of the senate intelligence report, i want to ask you about an interesting interaction i had with a former cia director porter goss. it was in march. i was dissipating in hofstra university and long island in a review of the george w. bush presidency called, "the bush doctrine and combating terrorism." this is a clip of my exchange with porter goss about the bipartisan senate committee report on the cia's use of torture. >> in the interest of fairness,

respond little bit on the senate select committee on intelligence study on rendition, detention, and interrogation, was a partisan political study. it was not two-sided. there are further facts that need to come out from those who are able to, i think, correct some of the misstatements in the senate study. that has not happened yet. i hope it will happen because i do believe he american public needs to know the truth of all of this. the senate study is not the full truth. amy: was there any truth in it? >> say again? amy: was there any truth in it? >> of course there was some truth in it. it was a cherry picked selective

presentation of information supporting a narrative that was made before his report actually even was started. the announced purpose of the report, of the study, if i'm correcting chairman feinstein -- if i'm quoting chairman feinstein properly, was to make sure this never happens again. i'm not sure what the "this is what was, and neither are a lot of people, but apparently, as you have gone to the report, as you go through this study, there are a series of observations that involve information that the decision-makers could have provided to the people doing the report and would have given a fairer and more complete understanding of what happened and why. if you want to know why something happened, it is a good

idea to go back to the people who made the decision and ask them. they calculatedly and determinedly avoided going back to anybody that they thought might spoil their narrative. so consequently, yes, there is some information that is cherry picked, summit out of context and some actually correct, as far as i know. i have not read a word of the report. i have not read a word of any of this stuff because to me, it is purely partisan, political and globalization of intelligence in this country -- politicization of intelligence in this country is only going to hurt one person, and that is every citizen in the united states. amy: i just want to quote senator mccain -- >> i love senator mccain and i would surly agree with you that senator mccain is the icon prisoner of war conduct. he has suffered greatly for our

country and made great sacrifices and deserves to be listened to, but he does not have all of the information either. amy: he said, it is a thorough and thoughtful study of practices that i believe not only failed their purpose to secure actionable intelligence to prevent further attacks on the u.s. and our allies, but actually damaged or her security interest as well as our reputation as a force for good in the world. >> he is welcome to his opinion. i doubt he is read the report. in any event, you certainly not as the people who are involved in this activity what they think because they have all indicated that he has not asked them. even he is dealing with less than a full deck. amy: that was porter goss, the former director of the cia. wells dixon his response? >> i also have a lot of

questions i would like to ask people who were involved in the torture program. one of those questions is, why was majid khan raped? in response to the senate report, the cia offers no justification and we heard earlier their legal architect of the torture program said that wasn't authorized. so why did it happen? i do want to know the answer to that. the notion the report was incomplete or that it is a partisan hack job, that it wasn't well done -- those are talking points. and the only people who are making those talking points are people who were actually implicated by the report. one of the really important aspects of the information that we got declassified concerning majid khan is that it corroborates a lot of what is in the report. not only does it discuss his torture that exceeded what is disclosed in the report, but it also corroborates a lot of things in their -- the sexual assaults, for example, detainees being subjected to torture methods that are

indistinguishable from waterboarding. i am all in favor of public release of the entire report, as well as the cia plus review. i think that is a starting point -- amy: leon panetta. >> right. amy: i want to thank you for being with us, wells dixon senior staff attorney with the center for constitutional rights, where he represents guantanamo detainee majid khan and specializes in challenging unlawful detentions. this is democracy now! and we come back, part two of our conversation with evan young, the 18-year-old high school senior who was valedictorian of his class but could not give his graduation address because his principal did not want him to say that he was gay. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we return now to the

case of evan young, the colorado charter high school valedictorian who was barred from speaking at graduation because he was planning to come out as gay. on may 16, he was due to be the 2015 class valedictorian of twin peaks charter academy high school in longmont, colorado. but just before the ceremony his principal prevented him from giving his graduation speech after learning that evan would be outing himself as gay. amy: this past weekend, evan was able to give his speech at an out boulder fundraiser in a backyard before an audience of hundreds. >> where would we be without the internet? i daresay the internet is better than the wheel because wheels are pretty useless unless you have google maps to tell you where to go. whether you're scrolling through facebook instead of working or frantically reading through spark notes in five minutes before english class because you forgot to do the reading last night -- come on, you know you

have all been there. you just cannot thank the internet enough. finally, i would like to thank the coca-cola company and all its subsidiaries, which have not only stood as an checkable icons of american consumerism, but have also provided delicious source of caffeine for so many years. [applause] and now would like to say this speech is sponsored by them, but it is not. they did not give me money. unlike hillary clinton, i don't make millions of dollars a year for flapping my lips. and now we arrive at the heart of the speech, the inspirational and meaningful part. for those who of our deep and sufficiently inspired were determined the meaning of their existence, feel free to play on your phones but just remember to laugh every once in a while. but the rest of us, we are going in. there's something i would like

to reveal to you may have suspected this but a hope this does not change working of me. i am gay. i have been attracted to men as long as i can remember and i've never had a girlfriend because i prefer members of my own sex. amy: that is an excerpt of evan young's speech. we played the full speech on monday show. which you can watch at democracynow.org. but now we turn to part two of our exclusive interview with evan young. it begins with congress member jared polis who also spoke at the out boulder event where evan finally gave his speech. >> you know, evan, i did find your speech a little controversial. as summit it was labored against soft drinks out of school, your shameless promotion of coca-cola is somewhat controversial. you know, we like to think -- we're very proud as boulder county residents. my goodness, with the first same-sex marriages in 1975. we have even had people come out

in their graduation speeches before here in boulder county and fairview high a couple of years ago. it really is a reality check for many of us to think in this day and age here in boulder county, in a public school, that this kind of discrimination, singling out evan purely on the basis of a sexual orientation, is able to occur. i truly hope the school board holds twin peaks fully accountable under the charter and under the state law, for these actions. i have a certificate as well which i would like to read for evan. it says, certificate of special congressional recognition presented to evan young in recognition of outstanding and invaluable service to the community. and truly in elevating this issue and letting all of us, as concerned citizens, know that these issues of discrimination still exist in this day and age

that purely on the basis of sexual orientation, somebody can be denied their academic honors -- that in his case he didn't work too hard to achieve, but nevertheless, he earned. [laughter] and of course the speech he was to give shows that out boulder one colorado, hrc, all of the adequacy -- advocacy groups locally and at the state level and nationally need to redouble our efforts. and while boulder was the first for gay marriage, we need to redouble our efforts to make sure we are the last time that summit he like evan will have to go through what he had to go through and graduated high school. amy: that was jared polis, the openly gay congressmember on the area representing boulder and longmont. evan young joins us from denver, colorado, from the studios of denver open media. evan, how did it feel to both give your speech and then be given the -- this citation

congressional recognition for what you have contributed to the community? >> yeah, it was crazy. when i was initially denied the right to give my speech, i was a little mad, but i had no idea it would go this far and that i would receive so much support from so many people. it was just awesome. amy: talk about how this took place on may 16, your preparation for the speech. you actually went to -- was your high school graduation at your school? >> yes, i would to the graduation. amy: and it took place at your school. >> it took place at the school. amy: you were actually holding your speech, ready to give it when the principal came over to you and said you would not be giving the speech echo >> yes. it was a couple minutes before i was about to go out into the

auditorium and i had my speech in hand. and then he said i could not give it. so i kind of wadded it up in a ball and threw it in my backpack. amy: were the other students surprised? >> actually, a lot of my friends were really mad that i wasn't allowed to give the speech, even before they knew the reason why i wasn't allowed to give it. they really wanted to hear it, i guess. amy: so there was no speech given by a student? >> there were supposed to be five speeches that night. first, it was a guest speaker who was one of my friends dads. then was a speech by a teacher. and then it was the third place person, a historian or something. then it's the salutatorian, the second place person, gave a speech. and finally, it was supposed to be the valedictorian, which was me, but it wasn't able to give that. so there were four speeches that night, but they were supposed to be five and i was the last one, but wasn't able to give it. amy: did they acknowledge you as

valedictorian of the class of 2015 at twin peaks charter academy high school? >> they didn't come although the board actually gave me a $500 scholarship for academic achievement, which i was very happy about that. but, no, they never mentioned that i was the valedictorian. amy: i am looking at a number of articles that were written about what happened. this statement, richard muted to the school attorney, said a graduation ceremony is "a time for family and those closest to the students to celebrate success and express mutual wishes of gratitude and respect. it is not a time for student to use his commencement speech to push his personal agenda on a captive audience, and school officials are well within their rights to prevent that from happening." evan, your response? >> i think they missed the whole point of the speech. i wasn't trying to get people in the audience to accept gay

marriage. i was trying to get them to accept me, even though they disagree with me. and that was the whole lesson of my speech. you have to be respectful of people, even if you disagree with them. and i thought me discussing being gay would be a very good way to get that message across. amy: so you were actually outing yourself in this graduation speech. you hadn't told your parents. you hadn't told the community. i'm looking at another article on the response, and it quotes your dad, don young, who was previously on the charter school's board of directors referring to the president, who is mr. buchmann, "mr. buchmann called me and said, i've got evan's speech here. there are two things in it i don't think are appropriate. one was that he and mentioned another student's name and then there was his coming out that he was gay." so that is the first time your

father heard this, correct? >> yes, that is correct. amy: are you hurt that it came from the school principal? >> if there's anything that upset me the most about this whole situation, it was probably that. and i guess what it showed is that the principal had very little respect or understanding for someone who is in my position. and as i said before, that sort of upset me the most. amy: so the principal is now trying to say that you simply wouldn't not accept his edit. what did he want you to edit out of the speech? there were some edits you accepted? >> i actually made all of the edits he asked me to except for the once he asked me to do various things. at one point he asked me to remove a student's name. in retrospect, that was a good idea. i did not want to investors -- hurt that student's reputation. i was glad he pointed that out.

there's another part i complained about english class and he said that might hurt the teacher's feelings, which was right. my english teachers action my favorite -- one of my favorite teachers. i just don't like reading books that much. i was really grab that he pointed that out, too. so i changed it to a part where i just complain about homework in general. there are a few parts he asked me to tone down some of the jokes. i was happy to do that. for the most part, the edits he asked me to make were good. amy: what was the joke he wanted you to edit out? >> there were several of them. i'm china think of one of them off the top of my head. like, there is 1 -- so i tell everyone to hug people that they disagree with at the very end of the speech. and i ask mel gibson to hug a jewish person. he said i should not have that in the speech. i actually removed that part for the speech always going to give to the school, but then once it was clear i wasn't going to give it to the school, i put that joke back in because it was one of my favorite ones. i thought it was kind of funny.

amy: what did he say about your coming out in the speech? >> he did not seem supportive of me doing something like that at all. like, he was pretty condescending. and he was almost sort of rude about it. i don't want to sound like i'm whining or anything, but he didn't -- he seemed really disgusted that i would include something like that in my speech. amy: did he tell you to remove it? >> yes, he did, in pretty exquisite terms. amy: what do you mean? >> i was very straightforward about how the part -- he didn't think the part was appropriate and how it has to be removed and it was offensive to people. amy: were you sitting with him or did he call you on the phone? >> i was sitting in his office with him on the tuesday before the graduation. amy: so presumably, since he's reading your speech in advance, your coming out to him as well as the >> yes, i was very nervous to give my speech dam

because i did not know how he would react. i parents got upset with me because owes being so secretive about my speech. and now they know why. i did not know how people would react to such a revelation. amy: how did you feel when principal buchmann told you to take that out of your speech that it wasn't appropriate? >> initially, i kind of actually agreed with him. i'm like, yeah, maybe i should remove this, maybe it isn't the right time. but over the next few days began to realize, hey, this is a really powerful part of my speech and it's essential to the speech, and i can't just remove it. it was about a day before the graduation that i wrote him a letter where i said, i'm not going to remove this part from this each. here are the reasons why. if you would like to discuss it, please e-mail me. and he did not e-mail me in the next day or so, so i assumed he was ok with it. but i guess not. amy: so when you gave the speech at out boulder to hundreds of

people, including a number of politicians, your parents were there. they also spoke. how did your peers react to your speech? is it the first time they heard it, last night? >> they had actually read it several times before. and they actually really liked the speech. but as my mom said, she was really glad to have heard me eating the to a crowd because they never actually heard me deliver the speech before. >>amy: so you go to a charter school the twin peaks charter academy high school in longmont. one of the articles about what happened pointed out that in the boulder valley school district 2013 fairview high school graduate -- this is a public high school, fairview high school graduate ted chalfant gave a commencement address. yet auditioned for the right to do so, as he was not the valedictorian. in his high school, they vote on

the speaker. he talked about his status as a gay student. it was already known by a number of his peers that he was gay. and the fairview principal supported him as a featured speaker. so he was asked what he thought of what happened to you, evan and he said, "as sad as it is, it doesn't shock me that this happened." do you know ted chalefen? >> i do not. amy: did you know a gay student had given the address last year? >> i had actually looked it up on the internet before i gave my's each and i did not see that anywhere. amy: so what are your plans now? >> well, i guess i don't -- i'm not what it take any action against the school.

my school is a great school and i think it's for an unfortunate that many people are judging my school on account of this one incident. i think i'm just one of the my 15 minutes of fame fade and hopefully, my school will take action to prevent something like this from happening again. and that is the only reason i brought this to the press because i want to make my school better. amy: that is twin peaks charter academy high school valedictorian evan young speaking to democracy now! the day after he gave his address. not, however, to the audience he planned. his classmates and the family of his classmates at graduation, but two weeks later at an out boulder event. in a moment, we will go to washington, d.c. to be joined by commerce member jared polis represented the area colorado were evan young lives. he is calling for an investigation of the school. we will be back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: joining us now from capitol hill is congressman jared polis from colorado. he is the first openly gay never of congress to become a parent. you wrote a letter earlier this week to twin peaks charter academy that prompted the school to launch an investigation into principal bj buchmann's decision to cancel evan young's graduation speech. in a press release, the twin peaks charter academy initially explained his decision by saying -- the draftamy: congressmember jared polis, welcome to democracy now!

, joining us from the cannon rotunda. first, can you tell us what you thought when you heard evan give his speech at out boulder, the first time he gave that speech, instead of two weeks before and he planned to may 16 at his graduation as the valedictorian? and then talk about what you are demanding right now. >> what a shame that what should have been a celebratory occasion for evan and his family having achieved a great gpa and being named valedictorian of the school, instead, was forever marred. of course, the concerns are beyond just the experience of evan and his family, but the signals it sends to gay and lesbian kids across our county across our state, and across the country in terms of what coming out means in the support level they can expect. an unfortunate turn of events. there been other students that have been treated much more fairly, a student in carbondale, colorado happened to mention she

was gay during her graduation speech and met great support from the community. i think it was inappropriate that it seems like evan was really signaled out and removed from a speaking role on the basis of his sexual orientation which is really inappropriate. at this point, what we're looking for is to find out what happened and was evan removed just because of his sexual orientation and what steps can the school take to ensure they address the concerns of the public perception, in fact provide a welcoming and safe environment for lgbt students going forward. amy: can you say exactly what you have the mandate, the course of action that has taken place in's you heard what happened to evan, the letters you have written, what have responded and going beyond the charter school itself? >> so far, there's really been no acknowledgment there was any wrongdoing or mistake from the school's perspective. i think what should occur is a

thorough investigation that has stakeholder buy-in, meaning the district should be involved. they should make sure it is a process that you quality advocates sign off on an affair and reasonable process. i don't think anybody wants to prejudge anybody with regard to this, and we need to find out what exactly occurred and what the proper steps that the school should take to ensure it sends a message that it has a welcoming environment for all learners. amy: explain how this charter school -- i mean, it is still a public school -- fits into the broader public school system, the saint vrain's public school system. what is the responsibility of that board? >> like in many states, charter schools are public schools but they receive waivers from any district policies. for instance, they can set their own personnel policy, their own school hours, their curriculums to a certain extent. they request those waivers formerly. therefore really granted -- they

are formally granted. it under state laws, there are those that are nonwaivable, many charters have every but the same responsible the as other public schools to follow them. that would include nondiscrimination laws of the state of colorado as well as laws about making sure they serve the needs of special education students and a number of other laws as well that they are subject to just as any other school. we have called upon the st. vrain district in their rollers authorizer -- in their role as authorizer to ensure that those items that are not waived, and this case the nondiscrimination law, is applied correctly at the st. vrain charter school called twin peaks academy. nermeen: you also point out the decision of the school could result in their charter being terminated. it is because of this question of discrimination. >> well, that is something the school should be concerned about. obviously, termination would only occur in extreme circumstances. this is a relatively easy

situation to address. thus far unfortunately, the school has resisted a lot of the constructed -- constructive address. hopefully, the school will be willing to address this issue. it is no reason it should come to anything other than making sure the school is serving all learners in a safe and accepting learning environment. amy: just to clarify, at this point, has the charter school said it will conduct an investigation of itself? >> well, they have said they will look into things internally. what they haven't done is involved the district or any external validator's. the school alone cannot drive the process, the judge and jury they need a multi-stakeholder process that certainly involves the district. so there is public comments in the outcome of any investigation. amy: interestingly, the superintendent of st. vrain of the overall school district that includes the public and the charter schools dr. don hadad

was voted the best superintendent in the country last year. have you gotten a chance to talk with him? >> the school district and doctorate on have been extremely -- dr. hahdad, the policies go beyond the state, are applied across st. vrain schools. they certainly have that commitment. i know the community is also strongly supportive of making sure that public schools serve all learners. amy: do you think bj buchmann the principal of the twin peaks charter school, should be fired, should be removed from his position? >> that is really up to the board of the twin peaks academy. certainly, there have been very serious issues raised and to certain extend, there's a bit of a discrepancy in accounts. certainly, if that principle was lying to his own board, that

would surly be grounds for removal. it is really not a matter for anyone other than the board of the twin peaks academy. but suddenly, i hope the twin peaks academy take steps to regain the public trust and confidence that was lost by the way they have been handling this process. amy: we wanted to switch gears while we still have you with us congressman, to address the issue of the usa freedom act. earlier this week, president obama signed into law a measure ending the mass surveillance program exposed by edward snowden. the senate passed the usa freedom act tuesday with a vote of 67 and 32. the law stops the bulk collection of telephone records instead requiring the nsa to ask phone companies for specific user's data rather than vacuuming up all the records it -- at once. you initially cosponsored the legislation, but ended up voting against the measure in the house. can you talk about the usa freedom act and your efforts to

rein in spying by the drug enforcement administration as well? >> yeah, so, it is a strong step forward for privacy advocates. i would argue it doesn't go far enough and leaves much of the patriot act intact. but certainly, the most extreme violations and the mass collection of personal data will no longer be authorized under the patriot act, so it is a strong step forward. i would like to see additional reforms within the patriot act so we can best reach the balance between privacy and national security. we also passed an amendment just yesterday which ended the dea's authorization, which was never exquisite authorization, but authority they took upon themselves, drug enforcement agency to engage in mass surveillance of personal information as well. congress specifically removed authority for many drug enforcement agency to engage in mass surveillance. amy: this usa freedom act that

you cosponsored and then ended up voting against, what was the original bill and what did you feel was taken out that was too important to be taken out, which is why you ultimately voted against it? >> the usa freedom act is essentially a reform of the patriot act which is the post-9/11 authorization that allowed -- take the government more tools to look into the terrorist threat against our country. it is a broad scope to that legislation. there are parts of it that are unobjectionable and others that race very important privacy concerns. one of the set of privacy concerns raised were around one of the processes around mass surveillance are mass gathering of data. there was a blanket authorization, or least the executive branch interpreted the authorization of the patriot act to provide them with the authority for a blanket authorization for metadata, etc. that specific authority has been ended. were the bill still goes too far in my opinion is that it allows

for keywords to be used for mass surveillance of information that is retained by the phone companies. for instance, a city or geographical term, however specific, you might be the entire state of new york or california or los angeles really not any specific legal parameters around us, could still be used in a government request of information that continues to be stockpiled at a private company. we would also want to make sure that security concerns are addressed with regards to how companies maintain their databases of our personal information. nermeen: do you believe that edward snowden should be allowed to come back to the united states without facing charges? >> well, he violated our laws, so clearly, he would face charges. i would -- certainly, i'm not the attorney general, but if i were, i think some sort of plea bargain where he would serve sometime in prison would be appropriate and punishment for his wrongdoings. but i don't see any particular reason why he should have to

spend the rest of his life in russia. i think if there is accommodation that can be reached where he agrees to serve a term in prison in recognition of his violation of the law, that might be the most appropriate. amy: hillary clinton in an interview with the guardian said that edward snowden should come back to this country, the sort of -- i think the words being used by the administration, man up, and he could launch a vigorous public and legal defense. but we see what happened with chelsea manning at the time bradley manning, and we did not hear his voice and all the years that he was held, that he was tried, now imprisoned for 35 years. when someone is charged with this level of charge, it is rare that you can actually hear them. why would edward snowden -- >> i don't blame him for not coming back. i think if i were in that situation, i would not come back, either, absence of some

sort of plea bargain or assurance whether it is five years in prison, three years whatever it is, i think he is worried about coming back in facing the rest of his life in prison and perhaps even at times solitary confinement. was only heard about some of the issues with regard to chelsea manning. -- we certainly heard about some of the issues with regard to chelsea manning. i understand why he is not coming back in facing an uncertain fate. amy: i know you have to leave. fracking. colorado is a big fracking state. oklahoma just passed a ban on fracking bans. maryland just passed a ban on fracking. can you tell us your position in colorado, what you think should happen around his controversial means of extracting fuel from the earth? >> i would love to see a middle ground between those two extremes. i personally would like to think that is the colorado way, where we empower communities to make decisions around zoning and appropriate use of lands that are within their jurisdiction. i would continue to oppose a

statewide ban in colorado like new york and maryland have done. i would also strongly oppose any legislation that tries to preempt local authority. in fact, in our state, i've long advocated legislation that gives explicit local authority for the types of zoning decisions that our cities and counties have with regard to every other type of industrial activity, and i think they should a properly have that with regard to fracking activity as well doubt protect their communities. amy: congressman jared polis thank you for being with us, the first openly gay parent member of congress. that does it for our show. if you would like to get a copy, you can go to democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]