Sometimes, the best way to deal with homophobes is to show them what they’re missing.
When professional wrestler Anthony Bowens and his boyfriend, Michael Pavano, came across a group of anti-gay protestors, they opted to seize the opportunity to show their love can’t be broken down by hate. The two posed for a photo right in front of the protestors’ malicious signage, sharing a kiss.
“#Standup against hate,” Bowens wrote.
It wasn’t immediately clear why the homophobes, who carried signs like “Trump, Make America Great Again: Ban Homo Marriage” and “Homos Go To Hell. Repent. Obey Jesus,” were protesting this time, but it seems they always find some excuse to put their hostility on display.
But the world continues to pass them by, as evidenced by the support Bowens and Pavano received online.
Despite the outpouring of praise for showing these protestors what love is really about, Bowens has previously spoken out about dealing with negativity online, and particularly homophobia.
“I get a lot of cool messages from people all over the world, thanking me for doing what I’m doing. Which reinforces the fact that it was a good decision to come out,” he told Fightful. “The negative being… I guess, really it’s only online. It’s a ridiculous stat but like 100% of all negativity has legitimately just come from either YouTube or Twitter comments.”
Still, the athlete, who came out as bisexual in 2017 and gay in 2019, clearly knows how to deal with the real life trolls as well. So keep on protesting, homophobes, and the LGBTQ+ community will just keep repurposing your hate as a vaguely amusing backdrop for a photoshoot.
