New Jersey teen comes out at school ceremony

>>> a new jersey teen recently named his high school 's best actor , said is he tired of acting in real life , so when 18-year-old jacob rudolph accepted his award last friday, he bravely stepped on to that stage and out of the closet. take a listen.

>> most of you see me every day. you see me acting the part of straight jacob . move me out of the way because i am gi, and that's how i'm going to act.

>> lots of applaud. jacob rudolph joins me now in studio. it's great to have you here. we all saw this in the newsroom and thought it was fantastic for you. certainly the response that you got. why did you want to do it in that fashion? why did you want to reveal yourself in that way?

>> well, first off, i would like to thank msnbc for having me, but i decided to do it in that way initially because i made the immediate connection between the irony of me acting every single day of my life and me being a stage actor , but as i started thinking about it more and more and i talked with very close gay family friend, he explained to me that by performing this speech in front of all of my peers and then having it videotaped especially, i would not only be coming out for myself, but coming out for those kids who maybe don't have the courage or don't know how to do it in the right way.

>> so what's the reaction that you've gotten? we saw the applause and the cheers that you got there. immediately. how have people been approaching you or treating you since you made that announcement?

>> well, my high school has been nothing but supportive, and i capital thank them enough for that, but 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, but i just have to reiterate that it really wasn't for me at that point. it was really for everybody else in the lgbt community .

>> it's very empowering. so you're a high school senior . you graduate this summer. what's next?

>> hopefully i'll get to attend the berkeley college of music for their music business program.

>> real quickly, in your announcement, you used the phrase lgbtt.

>> i did, yes.

>> explain what the extra t is for because normally i in coverage all always just say lgbt .

>> well, technically it's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersexed and al. that's like the full acronym.

>> right.

>> i intended to come out as an lgbt and not say either bisexual or gay or straight because i feel like those are the labels of the past, and especially in modern times when people are really questioning who they like and what they like, i think that saying i'm bisexual, it could change in the future. i could be exclusively for one sex or the other, so i think that putting it in a more general term like lgbt is extraordinarily appropriate even though i'm not a lesbian or a transgender.

>> well, we appreciate you explaining that to us, but congratulations to you, and best of luck in the future to you. hopefully berkeley is out there paying attention. jacob rudolph , thanks so much. that's going