Sign Of The Times: Straight High School Student Asks His Gay Best Friend To The Prom

If you needed a sign that the kids are alright, the future is in good hands, look no further.

It wasn’t long ago that gay high school students had to hide their true selves, date members of the opposite sex, and take them to the prom, lest they be discovered, outed, and bullied until graduation. In fact, those days are still here for far too many students across the nation.

That’s why stories like this should bring cheers and a song to the hearts of millions who believe in equality.

Jacob Lescenski, a Las Vegas, Nevada high school student, is straight. His best friend, Anthony Martinez, is gay.

As you can see from the photo above and this tweet, Jacob asked his buddy Anthony to the prom, because, why not?

“You’re hella gay, I’m hella str8, but you’re like my brother so be my d8!,” Jacob wrote on a sign happily held by friends.

NewNowNext, which first reported the story, writes that “Anthony is on the student council, and is often responsible for planning school dances, but lamented that he never gets asked to go.”

“He’s a real man,” Anthony said of Jacob in a post, “given that he has the guts to fulfill my gay student council dream of always helping out planning dances, and never getting asked. I couldn’t ask for a better person in my life.”

In a follow up piece, NewNowNext chatted with the two friends.

“I decided on going to prom alone because my original date idea didn’t work out so well,” explained Jacob. “Then one night I saw Anthony, who is my best friend, Tweeting about wanting a date. I then thought about how amazing of a guy he is and that he deserved a date. So, I came up with the poster idea, asked my friend Mia to make it and asked him that next day. No one knew about it except for me, my friend Jamie, and Mia (who made the poster). Therefore it was a giant surprise to everyone, especially Anthony!

“I just always wanted a date,” says Anthony, “but I knew being gay, and knowing I’m too busy for guys, no gay guy would ask me to a dance, let alone prom. So like any teen I complained about it on Twitter. On April 21 I was down at lunch selling prom tickets and I went upstairs to go to class and saw this giant poster and assumed it was for another person… until I read ‘You’re hella gay.’”

Between this and today’s new poll showing public support for same-sex marriage is at an all-time high, it seems the kids are doing a great job and the future is bright, indeed.

UPDATE! – Watch: Ellen Celebrates Gay-Straight BFF Prom Date Guys With $10,000 Scholarships

Chris Saldaña, a news anchor in Austin, Texas, just posted this:

And it seems the rest of Twitter agrees: