Stunning news out of Baltimore: it turns out boys will be boys.
Noted community activist Shahem McLaurin caused a firestorm on Twitter this week when he posted a picture of himself kissing his longtime boyfriend, Quincy. He captioned the photo with the phrase “I can’t wait to marry this boy.”
Though the tweet received a good amount of support and congratulations from followers, predictably, it also invited a good deal of backlash.
madness at its peak
— Ragna Solskaja (@YinkaDerek) January 16, 2018
Shit like this lets me know the end of the world is near, Earth must be destroyed and rebuilt, ain't no coming back for humanity
— Vanity. (@Van_Coop) January 17, 2018
The worlds really ending…
— Scofield (@officialahmed_1) January 16, 2018
— Hassan Muhammad Sanusi (@Hassan_m_sanusi) January 16, 2018
🚶🚶🚶 pic.twitter.com/92qXbPtM4C
— CHIEF OBI (@_obinna_1) January 17, 2018
Shahem and Quincy, for their parts, didn’t let the negative reaction phase them. Quincy tweeted another photo of the two not long after, captioning it with “hurry up!”
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McLauren earned notoriety in the Baltimore area for starting a community aid group called the Baltimore Star Project. The non-profit organization focuses on underprivileged youth aimed at preparing inner city high school students for college, providing mentorship for at-risk youth and fostering community involvement for future generations.
Fortunately the negative backlash on Twitter has generated enough attention that McLauren hopes to net an uptick in donations. If nothing else, he also hopes to “piss a homophobe off.”
Either way, what fun.