A lot of people might think that, in 2018, homophobia isn't something people have to worry about anymore - especially not in the western world where we have Pride Months, equal marriage, and RuPaul's Drag Race.
Unfortunately, that's not quite true.
Sure, a lot of countries have made steps towards levelling the playing field for gay people, and it may be true that - on a personal level - many people consider themselves to be more "accepting" of LGBTQ folks. In reality, though, discrimination still happens every single day, but often it's so commonplace that we don't even bother reacting or talking about it.
However, when 27-year-old Nick Hurley, a gay man from Manchester in the UK, was subjected to homophobic verbal abuse last week, he decided to do something about it.
In a post on Twitter, Hurley described an incident in which a group of men hurled an insult at him from their car while driving past.
Bit of a d**k move, right?
Well, Hurley seemed to think so - and he wasn't going to let them get away with it.
Fortunately for him, the car full of homophobes came to a stop at the next set of traffic lights, and Hurley - who happened to be armed with some pride supplies ahead of Saturday's celebrations in Brighton - seized the opportunity to dump a bag full of glitter through their window.
The tweet has since gone viral, with people all over the world expressing their solidarity with the glitter bandit.
Like a lot of LGBTQ people, though, Hurley has been speaking about this sort of thing for, well, pretty much his entire adult life - but it's only because of the amusing glitter element that the post actually gained any traction online.
"Talking about these things happening before has always felt like shouting into the ocean," he said in a blog post on Medium. "Each time prior, a few close friends and internet well-wishers extend their sympathies and then the world just carries on spinning."
He went on:
"I’ll be the first to admit that someone shouting at me on the street isn’t the worst hate crime, it’s not even the worst hate crime that has happened to me this year.
"Death threats, a glass bottle to the head, being thrown off my bike, and getting a brick through the window of my home are just a handful of the recent prices I’ve had to pay for being out and gay, in a supposedly open-minded, liberal, and welcoming city."
While this incident might seem like an entertaining revenge story for the average reader, for LGBTQ individuals, it's a reminder that homophobes are always out there; and it's a problem that needs to be dealt with.
"One isolated incident of name calling alone isn’t likely to dramatically affect you, but a lifetime’s worth of micro-aggressions can really build up and overwhelm you," Hurley explained. "Finding yourself the target of someone else’s hate can make getting through the day even more difficult for gay people. This all just adds fuel to the fire of the current mental health crisis in our community."
If you truly consider yourself to be someone who cares about the wellbeing of queer people, maybe you should start doing something about this. As Hurley himself suggests: "Next time you see someone abusing a gay person on the street, call them out. Just make sure you’ve got a tube of glitter in your pocket, because a little bit of sparkle goes a long way in a world full of hate."
And if you're someone who thinks that this kind of thing is ok, I hope you have a run-in with a tube of glitter very soon.
