High schooler who came out in front of classmates at awards assembly talks to MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts

Jacob Rudolph is one impressive kid.

The New Jersey teen who bravely came out in front of 300-plus classmates appeared on MSNBC and chatted with Thomas Roberts about why he did what he did and what the reaction has been since.

‘I’ve received countless Facebook messages from people I’ve never met before in my life – internationally even – congratulating me for what I did, saying how much they respect me and how brave it was for me to do what I did,’ he said. ‘But I just have to reiterate that it wasn’t really for me at that point, it really was for everybody else in the LGBT community.’

Wow.

My friend David and I were talking about this kid last night during dinner and I’m just so astounded by him. I came out to exactly no one during high school so his courage just blows me away.

The teen, who hopes to attend the Berkeley College of Music next year, talked to a gay friend of the family about what he planned to do and the friend said it would be even more powerful if it was videoed and posted online.

‘I would not only be coming out for myself, but for those kids who maybe don’t have the courage or don’t know how to do it the right way,’ he said.

His classmates gave Rudolph a standing ovation after the speech and that support has continued.

‘My high school has been nothing but supportive,’ he said. ‘I can’t thank them enough for that.’

Below is his interview with Roberts:

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