A father has been praised on social media this week for supporting his gay son during Pride month.
According to Buzzfeed, 15-year-old Caden Wyatt, who hails from just outside Tulsa in Oklahoma, came out as gay to his parents John and Janell last year.
The Wyatt family lives in a fairly conservative Christian part of the state, and John and Janell wanted to show their public support for their son during his second Pride out of the closet.
To that end, John hung an ally flag - which Caden and his mother bought at their city’s first Pride festival last spring - outside their family home in a gesture of love and support.
John then took to TikTok to share a video of the flag flying outside the Wyatt home, with Lady Gaga’s 'Born This Way' playing in the background. The proud father captioned the post:
"Happy Pride Month to y'all, especially to my son! Love you @cadenwyatt12."
His video clearly resonated with a lot of other TikTok users and has currently accrued over one million views, 406,000 reactions, and a further 17,000 comments as of the time of writing.
For example, one TikTok user wrote: "I cried. You guys are an incredibly supportive family. Your son is lucky. God bless and Happy Pride!"
Another person wrote: "THANK YOU FOR BEING A GOOD DAD FOR HIM. We all didn't have this and I can't imagine having a Dad this supportive. [sic]"
A third commenter wrote: "Your son doesn't know how lucky he is. So many [of] us wishes we had a dad like you or a dad at all. Good job! Same for the mom!"
This person chimed in: "You and your wife are freaking amazing parents!"
Finally, someone else gushed: "NOW THIS IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. [sic]"
Commenting on his dad's kind gesture in a later interview with Buzzfeed, Caden stated: "I’m really lucky to have such supportive parents because I know a lot of other people aren’t as lucky as me."
Meanwhile, John commented: "We’re letting people know it’s a safe place. I’m not trying to cause any controversy in the neighborhood, but maybe there’s some person out there who will see that flag and smile and feel safe."
