The La Trobe University graduate who proposed at the ceremony broke the silence after Clementine Ford’s outburst | Daily News Byte

A woman who was proposed to in the middle of her university graduation has revealed what she thought of the grand gesture, hitting out at the ‘hate’ thrown at her new bride after she accused him of ‘stealing her moment’.

La Trobe University student Stephanie Bail was receiving her degree in psychological science last week when her boyfriend walked on stage and got down on one knee.

The Melbourne university graduate shared footage of the moment the man told Ms Bail ‘I love you with all my heart’ before popping the question on stage in front of guests and fellow graduates.

The moment was widely embraced by the crowd, with waves of applause and cheers from onlookers, but her sweet gesture was quickly condemned by feminist commentator Clementine Ford, who said the boyfriend made everything about to him.

However, newlywed Ms Bail strongly refuted Ms Ford’s assessment of the situation, saying the ‘hate’ heaped on her partner was ‘absolutely disappointing’.

Stephanie Bail’s boyfriend took a bow after she accepted her degree at La Trobe University’s graduation ceremony in Melbourne last week

‘I celebrated graduating (not my first time) and getting engaged to the love of my life,’ she said.

‘While I appreciate your concerns, I don’t appreciate being spoken for and I don’t appreciate wild assumptions being made about myself and my partner.’

Ms Bail called on Ford to remove the video blasting their proposal because it ‘doesn’t represent me or my partner.’

In a rant uploaded to Facebook on Friday, Ford labeled the gesture as ‘entrapment’.

She called on men to stop making women empowerment moments about them and let women be ‘smart without you’.

‘Stop stealing women’s moments from them. They don’t belong to you. They are not yours,’ Ms Ford said.

That’s his moment, he’s a graduate. We do not know under what conditions he entered the university, we do not know how difficult it was for him, but he did it on his own.

Clementine Ford (left) has slammed a man for ‘stealing a girl’s moment’ after a video surfaced of him proposing to his girlfriend while on stage at her university graduation ceremony (right)

“Why do men look at situations where women have achieved something for themselves, where they are about to receive praise and admiration… and they think, ”you know what? I will make this moment about me. I will do this so she will remember, always, that the day she graduated was the day I proposed to her. That was the most important thing that happened to him that day”.

He also called out audience members who clapped during the proposal, saying they were indulging in ‘shows of ownership’.

The backlash even prompted La Trobe University to remove the footage from its social media page and apologize.

‘We made an error of judgment today,’ the university commented on Ms Ford’s Facebook post.

Ms Bail said it was not the first time she had graduated and lashed out at her partner’s critics

‘Our graduation ceremonies are about celebrating student achievement, and this event detracts from the important recognition of our students’ achievement.’

Ms Ford’s video has garnered more than 1,300 comments, with the majority of Facebook users outraged by the public proposal.

‘This makes me angry!!!! I worked my ass off to get my degree and if my partner did this he would be enrared. And the relationship is over,’ one user wrote.

‘I was irrationally angry, especially for him. I hope he goes on to get his doctorate, be successful, make a lot of money, and end up in his mom’s basement,’ commented another.

A third chimed in: ‘Watching men pull this sort of thing makes me angry. They are so threatened by a woman’s accomplishments, they feel the need to photobomb the moment. It’s weak and it’s pathetic.’