High school senior comes out at awards ceremony (video)

1/23/2013 7:30pm by 10

This happened on January 18th, at a high school in front of 300 high school students, parents and teachers. A senior boy, Jacob Rudolph, a high school senior in Parsippany, New Jersey, was receiving an award as “Class Actor.” So he decided to give a speech about how he wasn’t going to act any more, just to fit in.

He got a rousing response from his classmates.  Towleroad has a rough transcript of what he said.  Here’s a snippet:

“I’ve been acting every single day of my life. You see, I’ve been acting as someone I’m not…. acting the part of straight Jacob, when I am in fact LGBT.”

It’s amazing how much the world has changed. This kind of thing never happened in my high school.  The pressure to fit in was horrible.  And a kid getting the nerve to come out in the middle of all that.  Just wow.

Via the video’s YouTube page:

At the presentation of senior class awards (Class Clown, Most Likely to Succeed, etc.), an LGBT teen publicly announces during his acceptance speech for Class Actor award that he is an LGBT teen and is tired of acting as someone he’s not on a daily basis. His classmates clearly approve.

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@aravosis | Facebook | Google+. Editor of AMERICAblog, joint JD/MSFS from Georgetown, worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. A frequent TV pundit, he has been on The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Full bio and .

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  • Cletus

    “The reaction of the students is testimony to the progress we’ve made in our society to respect everyone”?

    Not exactly what I heard. I heard a bunch of disrespectful kids who don’t know how to be quiet long enough for one of their peers to say probably the most important thing he’ll ever say publicly.

    And before you flame me, I’ve got a 21 y/o and and two 17 y/o’s, and it’s astounding how lacking they and their friends are in the most basic social graces. And it’s not a case of “get off my lawn” either. They really are something else in their lack of true empathy and respect for others. They only know PC.

  • http://buddybest.tripod.com/index.html BuddyNovinski

    They give an AWARD for class clown?

    • Bill_Perdue

      Why not.? ‘We’ award members of Congress, presidents and their cabinets with vast amounts of graft and obscene salaries.

  • http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

    Never, ever, ever, ever would’ve happened in my day (late 70s). My goodness, how the times are a changin’!

    (And I love it how the bigots and homophobes are aging themselves out of existence. These young people are our true future.)

  • Drew2u

    I’m sure I’m going to get flamed for this, but this kid is “LGBT”? I’m gay (no question about it), the guy I’m seeing is bisexual, but I’ve never heard of someone being the entire sandwich before.

    • HKDaniel

      No, it’s not just you. I’ve never heard anyone, anywhere say “I’m LGBT”. Perhaps he was a bit shy about the gay word, or he was trying to be as inclusive as possible, but it was a very strange way to word it. Good on him anyway.

      • http://AMERICAblog.com/ John Aravosis

        It may be the new thing. Like “lgbt Americans” erc.

        • Drew2u

          The image of a bisexual intersex person came to my mind immediately when this kid said they were LGBT. I mean, that’s pretty much the only way to be all at once, isn’t it?
          No snark meant towards the kid, but is he really a lesbian?

    • Bill_Perdue

      I’ve heard it used as an adjective on news programs. It probably won’t replace gay as a generic term but it is used quite a bit by straights.

  • UncleBucky

    Guts! That’s what that took, no kidding! {Applause and Cheers!!!!}

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