See the Uplifting Prom Proposal a Straight Teen Made to His Gay Buddy
It’s that time of year again. High school students across the country are getting ready to break out the formal wear, brush up on the latest dance moves, and overpay for a lush limo to celebrate a teenage rite of passage: prom.
While paired-off couples might be worrying about whether their corsage will clash with their outfit, gay student Anthony Martinez was bummed he’d have to attend the event stag—until his best friend, Jacob Lescenski, who is straight, stepped up to the plate.
Following in the fashion of public prom-posals, Lescenski created a banner to ask his pal to the big dance.
“You’re hella gay. I’m hella str8, but you’re like my brother, so be my d8?” reads the banner.
Martinez saw the banner as he headed to class at Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas on Thursday and was surprised to find himself at the receiving end of the request. “I saw this giant poster and assumed it was for another person—until I read ‘You’re hella gay,’ ” Martinez told Next Now Next.
Lescenski came up with the idea after seeing a lamenting tweet from Martinez on Monday in which he wished for a male date for the dance that Martinez—as a student council member—helped plan.
While their night of dancing under the watchful eye of high school chaperones will be a platonic affair, it’s a stand-out example of a straight student publically standing up as an LGBT ally. Close to 75 percent of LGBT students experience verbal harassment due to their sexual orientation, according to a 2014 report from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
The prom-posal has caused many to cheer for the pair on social media, but no one is happier about the May 2 dance than Martinez himself.
“He’s my best friend, and a real man, given the fact he has the guts to fulfill my gay student council dream of always helping out planning dances and never getting asked,” Martinez wrote on his Tumblr account. “I couldn’t ask for a better person in my life. Thank you, Jacob.”
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• Should Telling Your LGBT Child 'It's Just a Phase' Be a Crime?
Original article from TakePart
