The Straight High School Student and His Gay Best Friend He Asked to Prom Have the 'Best Night Ever'

Remember Jacob Lescenski, the straight high school student who wanted his gay best friend Anthony Martinez to finally have a date to prom, so he asked him himself?

Then it went super viral: “We were confused at the time,” Anthony says of the thousands of tweets and hundreds of thousands of reblogs and all the media coverage they got for the promposal. “I was like, ‘Jacob, you’re just taking me to a dance.’”

“We didn’t think it was a big deal and everyone was freaking out about it,” Jacob continued. “For me, it was just making my best friend happy.”

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It was a big enough deal that they were invited to The Ellen Show:

“I was actually told that he had a crush on me,” Jacob told Ellen of how they became best friends. “So, at first I was kind of scared. I was like, 'Oh maybe I shouldn’t be friends with him.’ I didn’t support gay rights then, but I also was not against them. It was still kind of weird for me, because being a [straight] high school student, that is kind of weird to think about.”

Two years later, Jacob says Anthony is the reason he’s become an advocate for gay rights and a strong ally. Then Ellen gave them $10,000 each for college scholarships because it’s Ellen.

And then it was time for Desert Oasis High School’s prom, which Anthony says was the “best prom ever.” Teen Vogue followed the dates as they suited up for the night and helped set up the dance (they’re both on Student Government). The video is very sweet:

But they went to TAO for dinner?! Teen Vogue must have picked up that tab.

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Jacob and Anthony even had a slow danced together, both of their first dances with another guy:

“Being judged is not something I’m worried about,” Jacob said in an interview with YouTuber wickydkewl. “I know who I am and the people I care about know who I am and I don’t need to worry about what the other people think, so.”

As for Anthony, he says, “I just knew that he was trying to make me happy, so that made me happier...I didn’t realize the impact that it would have.”

Anthony sees the impact of their friendship, and this story, as this: “I don’t want anyone growing up how I used to think,” he said. “Like, I’d get married in a courtroom with only one other person knowing that I was getting married to them, because I was so terrified. I want people to think they’re going to get married in a ballroom, not a courtroom. And those kids that identify under the LGBT community deserve that right, just as straight kids do.”

Here, LGBT students who were in high school less than 10 years would tell you they didn’t think they’d ever get married, let alone in a courthouse. Times, they are a changing. That’s nice to see.

Speaking of proms, check out Modern Family star Ariel Winter’s shots from her big dance and watch the hilarious way she was asked:

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