If there’s anything we’ve learned about motivational speakers anywhere in the world, it’s that some of them cannot walk the talk.
It seems this is the case for evangelist and anti-bullying advocate Nick Vujicic, after his former assistant revealed that he was encouraged to resign when the motivational speaker learned that he was gay.
Having been born with tetra-amelia syndrome, an extremely rare congenital disorder characterized by the absence of four limbs, Vujicic lived through bullying when he was young. This motivated him to establish the Christian ministry Life Without Limbs in 2005, which provides motivational talks to people all over the world.
Not long after, Vujicic also established Attitude is Altitude, a program that offers a social emotional learning curriculum for K-12 students. With these two groups, Vujicic rose to fame as a highly respected speaker that talks about strength and faith to overcome life’s insurmountable challenges.
In a commentary piece for the Advocate, the motivational speaker’s assistant of almost two years Bradon Schwarz shares in detail how Vujicic’s evangelism focuses on tolerance and acceptance and preaches anti-bullying of all kinds—except that he’s silent when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community.
Vujicic is known to be an outspoken critic of the queer community, and has close ties to conservative politicians that are known to have anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments.
“Nick, a man I long admired, told me I couldn’t work for him anymore as a gay man, and our relationship quickly unraveled,” Schwarz says. “I’ve struggled to maintain my adoration for the man who rejected me because of who I am, but as I continue watching him share his antibullying message across the world — as well as observe his close ties to homophobes Mike Pence and Betsy DeVos, for whom he’s been a personal adviser — I can’t stay silent anymore.”
Schwarz is referring to Vujicic’s recent partnership with the Vice President of the United States and the Secretary of Education, wherein they developed an anti-bullying curriculum that will be used in schools all over the country.
Schwarz became a part of Vujicic’s team in early 2015 and stayed up to late 2016, and during that time he became quite close with the evangelist and he helped him spread his message. While under his camp, Schwarz was receiving support from Vujicic for his family’s charity Extreme Mobility Camps. But after he was encouraged to resign, Vujicic cut all ties with him.
“I was ultimately ousted from his ultraconservative sphere, which wasn’t a surprise. Nick went from donating tens of thousands of dollars over the course of several years, advising our board, and speaking at and hosting our events to withdrawing all support from my family’s charity,” he says.
In finally choosing to speak out, Schwarz says that it’s important for people like himself to call out hypocrisy when they see it, even if it hurts. “Even when it’s grotesquely displayed by those who were once our childhood heroes,” Schwarz ends.