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The ten most heartwarming queer news stories of 2019

Pride truck, rainbow, hatchback, Oklahoma, not all country boys are bigots, Cody Barlow
Straight Oklahoma resident Cody Barlow decorated his truck with a rainbow for Pride month. Photo: Facebook: Cody Barlow

All too frequently in 2019, as part of our news-gathering, LGBTQ Nation had to report on bad news. But for all of the horrible things that happened, glimpses of sunshine peeked through.

Some of our most popular stories of 2019 were heartwarming pieces – and only one of them is about an actual member of the community. The rest of the articles are about allies doing what they do best – standing in solidarity with LGBTQ people.

Related: This lesbian fled Russia in a boat & sailed across the ocean to be with her love

Here are the top ten posts published on LGBTQ Nation last year that will make you want to cheer and cry at the same time.

Straight man’s pickup truck goes viral for supporting Pride in rural Oklahoma

Hulbert, Oklahoma is a small town with a population of 590 located in the northeastern county of Cherokee, a region where over 60 percent of voters chose Donald Trump. In short, it’s not the sort of place you’d expect to welcome LGBTQ people.

Cody Barlow would like to prove you wrong. And he did.

Colin O'Leary and his mother, Carol
Colin O'Leary

This teen’s performance in the passenger seat of his mom’s car is worthy of Broadway

Colin O’Leary took to the passenger seat of his mother’s car to lip-synch along with more than two dozen Broadway hits, from Hamilton to Rocky Horror, and a total of eight clips from Phantom of the Opera alone. This incredibly funny video was the most popular article of the year. Technically, it published in late December of 2018, but it definitely deserves to make the list.

As an extra bonus, catch a glimpse at his mom’s stone-faced reactions to both O’Leary and everyone else on the road.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Sarah Cunningham
Jamie Lee Curtis and Sarah Cunningham Screenshot/Twitter

She attends gay weddings as a “stand-in mom.” Now they’re making a movie about her.

Sara Cunningham gained national attention in 2018 when she posted on Facebook that she would attend weddings as a stand-in mom since so many LGBTQ people have been rejected by their parents. But when Jamie Lee Curtis purchased the rights to her life story, the internet exploded in anticipation and applause.

Eva Victor
Eva Victor Screenshot

This woman’s hilarious video about ‘straight pride’ is so funny even straight people are sharing it

After the city of Boston issued a permit for a “straight pride” parade, the web went wild with condemnation and comedy. Twitter user Eva Victor won the internet.

In her satirical take on the ridiculous “parade,” Victor explains to her boyfriend why she’s so excited to go to Straight Pride and why it’s so important to her as a straight woman.

Sean Doolittle with Sully at Naval Support Activity Bethesda in 2019
Sean Doolittle with Sully at Naval Support Activity Bethesda in 2019 U.S. Navy photo

A baseball player refuses to visit the White House. He wants to be an ally to his wife’s two moms.

Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle refused to visit the White House after his team won the World Series, in part because he wants to be an ally to LGBTQ people. His wife has two mothers.

“People say you should go because it’s about respecting the office of the president,” he said. “And I think over the course of his time in office he’s done a lot of things that maybe don’t respect the office.”

MARCH 5, 2019: Openly gay Elk Grove pastor Matt Pearson speaks about his experiences at the recent United Methodist Conference, where the anti-gay Traditional Plan was passed.
MARCH 5, 2019: Openly gay Elk Grove pastor Matt Pearson speaks about his experiences at the recent United Methodist Conference, where the anti-gay Traditional Plan was passed. Chris Allan/Shutterstock

Entire Methodist confirmation class declines to become members over anti-LGBTQ policies

The teenage would-be members read an open letter in front of the congregation to explain why they couldn’t support discrimination despite the church’s recent controversial decision to crackdown on LGBTQ clergy and marriage equality.

The eight teenagers received a standing ovation from the congregation for their decision to stand up for Christian values in the face of systemic discrimination.

dwyane wade, zion wade, miami beach gay pride
Screenshot from Variety

NBA star Dwyane Wade says it’s “my job as a father” to support his son at Pride

This April, Zion Wade, the 12-year-old son of NBA star Dwyane Wade, went to the Miami Beach Pride parade with their stepmother, Gabrielle Union, and siblings Zaire and Kaavia. Though the elder Wade couldn’t be there due to a basketball game against the Toronto Raptors, he cheered his family on via Instagram.

The photographs of Zion and family at Pride went viral. Most people celebrated the love and support Zion’s family gave them. Sadly, there was also homophobic backlash.

 

Shutterstock

My Cajun Lyft driver shocked me when I told him I’m gay. Now he’s going viral.

When a good-ole-boy picked our editor-in-chief up in a pickup at the New Orleans airport, he thought Lyft might have paired him with a Trump-loving redneck. The story of the trip went viral after it was posted on social media and, probably not coincidentally, the two men have become friends.

Employees of the US Mission in Nepal celebrate Pride.
Employees of the US Mission in Nepal celebrate Pride. Randall Berry

Embassies worldwide are defying Trump & flying the Pride flag without permission

Who doesn’t love a good rebellion story? When the Trump administration forbade embassies from flying pride flags on government-owned flagpoles, the staff at several outposts worldwide got a little… creative. They didn’t break the rules, but they definitely bent them.

“This is a category one insurrection,” one diplomat told the media.

Affirming rainbow doors outside the North United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.
Affirming rainbow doors outside the North United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. Many individual Methodist church’s protested the governing body’s anti-LGBTQ stance earlier this year. North United Methodist Church

Methodist churches nationwide are publicly rebelling against the denomination’s anti-LGBTQ stance

After the General Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to reaffirm their teaching that homosexuality is “incompatible” with Christianity and to punish individual churches that perform marriages for same-sex couples and allow LGBTQ clergy, American churches pushed back.

The churches used their signs, buildings, and lawns to apologize for the denomination’s decision to double down on anti-LGBTQ teachings worldwide and LGBTQ Nation brought readers some amazing photos from around the nation.

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