Valentine's Day is supposed to be a day about love and friendship, not hate and judgments.
But clearly, some homophobic trolls didn't get that memo when they decided to come out of the woodwork and attack British Member of Parliament, Luke Pollard, for his Valentine's Day tweet.
Pollard has not hidden the fact he is Gay, even in his role as a politician.
On Valentine's Day, he shared a little bit of love with his boyfriend, Sydney Robertson, and the rest of the Twitterverse by tweeting:
"Happy Valentine's Day to my lovely boyfriend!"
Happy Valentine’s Day to my lovely boyfriend! X https://t.co/X6ZJsIFQI4— Luke Pollard MP (@Luke Pollard MP) 1613294128.0
Some trolls were blatantly homophobic.
@JustifyMyLee @LukePollard Is different and you know it— AlessioIsWaving (@AlessioIsWaving) 1613340827.0
Other trolls focused on the couple's age gap while ignoring the many heterosexual politicians with much younger partners.
@LukePollard Love a father and son photo— Stewart King (@Stewart King) 1613329627.0
@LukePollard I’m calling childline— Jason Gollings (@Jason Gollings) 1613344548.0
@LukePollard Home schooling win win— Steve Williams (@Steve Williams) 1613327955.0
Fortunately, there were some who decided to show their support for Pollard.
@LukePollard Wholesome 🏳️🌈— Matt Dean 🇬🇧🏴🌹 #VaccinateBritain💉 (@Matt Dean 🇬🇧🏴🌹 #VaccinateBritain💉) 1613328322.0
@MichelleLewins3 @LukePollard I couldn’t agree more. 🌈 ❤️— Rodolfo Parulan (@Rodolfo Parulan) 1613415326.0
@LukePollard You make a cute couple! 😊 Pay no mind to the needlessly bitter gremlins. 🧡— Oliver & (No) Company (@Oliver & (No) Company) 1613331150.0
A few also said people should just let people live and love.
@LukePollard A lot of people on here expressing opinions about things that have nothing to do with them. This is a… https://t.co/cEJA4YMZtm— TİM (@TİM) 1613334716.0
@martincoxgts @LukePollard How vile - just be happy for them— Jonty Laister (@Jonty Laister) 1613337042.0
@LukePollard Great photo of two consenting adults in love – what's wrong with that!? 🏳️🌈💕— Sam Cleal (@Sam Cleal) 1613513441.0
Pollard later confessed the hateful responses of homophobia, ageism and even racism against Robertson's heritage really surprised him.
"In my mind, Valentine's Day is all about love."
"My newsfeed was full of people sharing messages and pictures of their other halves."
"Me sharing a picture of me and Sydney going on a walk with Plymouth Sound in the background, it's no different than any of my friends' pictures. It's exactly the same thing."
"When you're in the public eye, there will always be people who jump on you. But there's simply no place for these homophobic or racist comments."
"[But] I feel very sorry for the people who led the attacks. They must be pretty lonely if seeing other people happy is a threat to them."
Pollard tweeted again to share he and Robertson weren't letting the hateful comments get in the way.
"Thank you for all the messages of support, love, and kindness over the past 24 hours."
"Sydney and me are doing fine, and we are not letting the trolls win."
Thank you for all the messages of support, love and kindness over the past 24 hours. Sydney and me are doing fine a… https://t.co/fVEI52HX40— Luke Pollard MP (@Luke Pollard MP) 1613414074.0
In fact, Pollard was actually able to celebrate a new boom of followers over the next 24 hours.
Hello to the 1,000+ new followers from the last day. If you don’t like my page on Facebook why not follow me there… https://t.co/99TulbLLhI— Luke Pollard MP (@Luke Pollard MP) 1613424060.0
It's inspiring to see someone who was verbally attacked so ruthlessly, and over a special holiday weekend, taking the high road.
Since more people are encouraging others to be supportive of other people living their truth, hopefully that will become the norm in the near future.
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