14 DAY TRIAL // High school senior Jacob Rudolph is filmed accepting an award from his class, and it is a moment that he will remember, as it is also the time he came out as LGBT.
Advocate mentions that Rudolph was getting the Best Actor award. He starts off his speech by poking fun of the fact that his love for acting might be a bit of a cliché, considering the situation.
“Sure I've been in a few plays and musicals, but more importantly, I've been acting every single day of my life. [...] You see, I've been acting as someone I'm not,” he says.
Jacob's father, Jonathan Rudolph, was the one who uploaded the clip to YouTube, which shows just how much he supports his son.
“Unlike millions of other LGBT teens who have had to act every day to avoid verbal harassment and physical violence, I'm not going to do it anymore. It's time to end the hate in our society and accept the people for who they are,” Jacob says.
At the end of the speech, which the young boy had the courage to go through with even as 300 of his peers stood before him, he got an ovation.