WATCH: High School Senior Comes Out to Standing Ovation

In accepting his award for Class Actor, high school senior Jacob Rudolph courageously came out as an LGBT teen before 300 of his peers.

BY Sunnivie Brydum

January 23 2013 3:11 PM ET

Advocate reader Scott Hester-Johnson brought our attention to the powerful video below, in which high school senior Jacob Rudolph bravely comes out as an LGBT teen at a school assembly before 300 fellow students.

The video, filmed and posted to YouTube by Jacob's father, Jonathan Rudolph, shows the younger Rudolph taking the stage to accept the Class Actor award during the school's senior class awards. Rudolph notes that while he's acted in several plays over his academic tenure, he's been acting every day as something he's not: a straight person.

"Most of you see me every day, you see me acting the part of straight Jacob," says Rudolph, as the crowd quiets. "When I am, in fact, an LGBT teen."

Rudolph even spells out the acronym for those classmates unsure of just what he's saying.

Watch the brief video below and enjoy the heart-warming moment when Rudolph's schoolmates give him a standing ovation for his courageous speech.