This is Ben Shepherd. He came out as gay in a way only a teen in 2015 could.
Shepherd is now 18, but back in 2015 he was a 15-year-old trying to figure out how to come out to his mom.
"I had been doing theater way too long for it to be a secret anymore," he told BuzzFeed News.
"She already knew, it was kind of an unspoken thing and I didn't want to make a big deal out of it."
In a stroke of genius, he decided to come out via a Ditty. Get ready to have "Mom, I'm gay, LOL" stuck in your head all day.
posting this for anyone who saw my sisters post and needs a fun casual way to come out to their mom :0 @allyshepp
In case you've forgotten, Ditty is an app that lets you set your own lyrics to a popular song. It won some awards in 2015 but hasn't really been a ~thing~ since then.
"I just kind of did this on a whim," said Shepherd, who's from Austin.
He texted the Ditty to his mom, adding a message asking her not to make a big deal about it. But, being a mom, she totally did.
"She was very supportive, she sent me back a bunch of messages."
Now, years later, Shepherd's sister Ally has shared the Ditty on Twitter and it's gone viral.
y’all ... this is how my little brother came out to my mom in 2015 & I’ve still got it stuck in my head
It is kind of a bop.
@allyshepp Don’t..tell.. daaadddd
Plus the song choice is just *chef kiss*.
@allyshepp "hey mom. i know this is so 2000 and late, but..."
We are collectively dead.
@allyshepp @mellamosaint -Mom Listen ok? - boum boum.... I'm Gay -😏💀💀💀
Shepherd said he was not expecting to go viral at all.
"I didn’t even know she’d tweeted it until I got a message from a friend saying hey, you’re blowing up on Twitter," he said.
And in case you're wondering, everything is good with Shepherd and his dad.
He included "don't tell dad" in the Ditty because his father is religious and he was worried about his reaction. But he ended up coming out to him a couple of years later and they're doing just fine.