Two men enjoy a kiss in front of the Edinburgh Pride protester (Photo: @calumcam | Twitter)
A photo on Twitter from the weekend Pride festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, is going viral. The Edinburgh Pride festival attracted around 5,000 participants to the center of the city on Saturday.
As well as thousands of LGBTI people and allies, there was also a very small number of Christian protesters. One in particular returns year after year, brandishing a sign warning that ‘one man’ and ‘one woman’ are ‘God’s way.’
Twitter user @calumcam thought the protester the perfect backdrop to demonstrate the true meaning of Pride: the refusal to be anything other than yourself.
Calum grabbed his partner and kissed, making for the perfect Edinburgh Pride photo. The accompanying message reads: ‘Sometimes boys kiss boys and it’s great! #lovealwayswins #EdinburghPride’
Sometimes boys kiss boys and it’s great! #lovealwayswins #EdinburghPride pic.twitter.com/WPvpPr8pwT
— Calum (@calumcam) June 16, 2018
The image has had thousands of likes and hundreds of retweets on Twitter. Some have even shared their own snaps in front of the same gentleman.
Love is love! (Photo: Twitter)
Others have just expressed support for the men’s public demonstration of love or made quips.
Others have just wished that they could have also been in on the action.
Can I muscle my way between them both? #AskingForAFriend pic.twitter.com/JrYoFtEJ0U
— Grant Rivers (@SnowAndBeach) June 17, 2018
Calum’s full name is Calum Campbell. He told GSN he’s kissing his boyfriend, Sam: ‘We’ve been together almost 10 years.
‘The old guy is just a regular protester around Edinburgh. I grew up in the city and he’s been going around with boards like that for as long as I can remember. In the past I have tried to engage him in polite discussion but he’s never been interested.
‘Sadly there were another six or seven protestors outside the Scottish Parliament where the march started with similar signs. But thankfully they were shown similar acts of love and pride from other march participants.
‘As soon as we took the photo the crowd around us cheered really loudly and an older straight couple who were just watching the march made a point of coming over to congratulate us for what we did and to say that not all people his generation had similar views.
‘And I really have been surprised by how well the photo has done on Twitter. I knew it would attract some attention given the content of it but I’ve been really surprised at the number of supportive messages and almost zero negative attention from trolls and the like it has attracted.’
This year’s Edinburgh Pride celebrated the 40th anniversary of the creation of the rainbow flag with the theme of ‘True Colors.’
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