In the wake of the Orlando mass shooting, people are coming out online using the hashtag #gaysbreaktheinternet.
Social media users are showing their solidarity with the 49 people shot dead and 53 injured by Omar Mateen before he was shot and killed at the Pulse Orlando nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning.
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After the shooting, Christian Acevedo, 16, from Miami said he tweeted posing with his boyfriend to show the world he is not ashamed to love someone.
“I want it to inspire others that you should be proud to be yourself and not be ashamed of loving someone. Don’t hide the person that you truly are simply because people do not accept you.”
Acevedo came out in 2013 and said it was a really stressful experience. He said it was hard at first but it does get better.
“The LGBTQ+ community has gone through so much over the years and we are constantly putting up a fight for our rights.”
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“I, along with the rest of my community, live for the day that I can walk down the street with my partner, holding their hand, and not be in fear.”
Here’s what others posted:
Kaitlin Cox, 19 from New York said she tweeted after the shooting to make it easier for people to publicly come out. She’s been in a relationship for five months and said she feels blessed to have friends and family that are supportive of her sexuality.
“We are fearful of coming out and being who we actually are and that gives the non-supporters the upper hand.”
“It allows the homophobic members of society to believe that if they keep hurting us and killing us that we will become fearful and become invisible. We need to not let them scare us.”
Cox said she hopes that one day there will be a generation that does not have to “come out,” because sexuality does not have to be an announcement. “It should just be how someone is and it should be accepted and supported.”
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