When Shankar Lal decided to come out, he wanted to do it in a big way. But he didn’t know his small act of personal courage would bring an auditorium to their feet.
“I decided that I wanted to come out at graduation a month before it actually happened,” Lal told BuzzFeed News. “I remember shopping at Target and seeing all the pride gear. I thought to myself, Wouldn’t it be crazy if I just whipped out a pride flag at graduation?”
And that’s exactly what he did.
As he walked on stage and accepted his diploma from Hillcrest High School in New York, Lal whipped out a rainbow flag, draped it across his shoulders, and came out for everyone to see.
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The. Crowd. Went. Wild.
“The response was insane,” Lal said. “I walked across the stage with my pride flag over my shoulders and suddenly everyone started cheering for me. I remember hearing my principal and teachers tell me they were proud of me.”
“There was so much love in that room. It was amazing. Even on social media, I had so much love and support. Coming out on graduation was definitely one of the proudest moments in my life.”
