A lesbian couple is making noise and fighting back after a post of them lying together in bed with their son, Alex, was removed from Instagram.
One of the women, Veronica, runs a popular Instagram account called Oh! Mami Blue, where she and her partner, Jana, share their lives, their love, and a healthy dose of delicious looking meals.
Veronica told BuzzFeed the idea behind the account is to show that their lives are just as normal as any straight couple, and that, “We are a family.”
When another popular Instagram account reposted the image of the family in bed together, it was reportedly flagged by users and taken down.
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The account is said to have tried to repost the photo numerous times, all to no avail.
Veronica responded by letting people know what happened through her Instagram Stories, asking, “I only see love, what about you?”
“Because that’s what’s shown in the image: A family,” she added.
Soon others were sharing photos of themselves or of the couple, with the hashtag #Yosoloveoamor, or I only see love.
When people began reporting that hashtag as well, it was then blocked by Instagram, as Veronica shared in her Stories.
While they understand that Instagram automatically pulls hashtags and photos automatically when enough people report them, they feel the system could be better managed. Veronica suggested that the company can likely afford to pay for more human, and less automated, reviewers.
She also explained why they weren’t giving up.
“We are a happy family and we are strong, these things no longer hurt us, but there are people right now who take their own lives because of things like these, there are people being bullied, harassed and beaten just for being LGBT,” she said.
Instead, they created a new hashtag, #BorraIGdehomófobos, or Delete homophobes. Members of the LGBTQ community then began sharing photos celebrating their own love, using the hashtag.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BY5fssGgGDB/?tagged=borraigdehom%C3%B3fobos
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcH6ns8Fm1e/?tagged=borraigdehom%C3%B3fobos
BuzzFeed contacted Instagram for comment and has yet to hear back.