Hundreds of people rallied around a bakery that lost followers after sharing their new Pride cookies.

On June 2, Confections, a business in Lufkin, Texas, marked Pride month by sharing an image of their new heart-shaped rainbow cookies.

The captioned the shot: "More LOVE. Less hate. Happy Pride to all our LGBTQ friends! All lovers of cookies and happiness are welcome here."

The following day, however, the bakery, run by sisters Dawn and Miranda, had some bad news to share - they had lost a "significant" number of followers in the aftermath of their Pride post.

They wrote: "Today has been hard. Really hard. We lost a significant amount of followers because of a rainbow heart cookie we posted.

"We received a very hateful message on our business page canceling a large order (5dz) of summer-themed cookies for tomorrow morning (that we just finished decorating) because of a rainbow heart cookie we posted."

The post added: "My heart is heavy. Honestly, I never thought a post that literally said more love less hate would result in this kind of backlash to a very small business that is struggling to stay afloat and spread a little cheer through baked goods."

The bakery then encouraged their followers to pop around if they wanted to get their hands on the excess cookies they were left with following the canceled order.

They concluded: "So. If you love our cookies we will have an overabundance of them tomorrow. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better."

The post went viral and has since racked up over 12,000 reactions, 1,600 comments, and 2,200 shares at the time of writing.

Loyal customers and LGBTQ+ advocates turned up to the store in their hundreds the next day:

What's more, the business managed to sell out on all of its stock:

Taking to Facebook once more to thank their incredible customers, Confections wrote: "Y’all. We are astonished at your generosity of heart. The line is wrapped around the street since we opened."

They concluded: "We will be CLOSING TODAY one hour early at 4:00 to rebake and regroup for tomorrow as we are close to being sold out. We will be OPEN SATURDAY 11-2 with more of everything, including the rainbow heart that started it all."

Featured image credit: Marc Bruxelle RF / Alamy

A woman has claimed she was recently refused service by a department store worker due to the fact she's transgender.

Per Independent, a trans woman named Licca, who goes by the handle @liccalollipop on social media, took to TikTok in a video to share the bad service she'd allegedly received in a Nordstrom shop.

In her video, which was posted on Wednesday, June 15, Licca explained that she had been snubbed by an employee while recently visiting the store. She claims she was told to find someone else to help her when she asked for help exchanging an item she'd previously purchased.

Take a look at the TikTok user's video below:

She stated:

"As a transgender woman of color, I build myself up before I go out anywhere because I know I’m going to face discrimination and that is exactly what I did before I entered Nordstrom.

"Her demeanor towards me was so rude, she made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me. She treated me with such disrespect."

Licca's original post has since racked up over 151,000 views, 68,000 reactions, and nearly 2,000 comments from other TikTok users, at the time of writing.

Credit: TikTok

One person wrote: "Horrifying. Never in a million years would we allow this in our shop. Unacceptable. You deserve to be served with warmth, professionalism, and kindness."

Credit: TikTok

A second TikTok user commented: "I am so sorry this happened to you :( you deserve to be treated like with respect. I hope this gets boosted!!"

Credit: TikTok

A third added: "[Nordstrom] on the bandwagon of companies using performative activism to justify discrimination happening at their stores. Make this right!"

Credit: TikTok

While a fourth chimed in: "[Nordstrom] THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! Please do something about this transphobic employee!

Another added: "Complete BS on their part. I want accountability for you. Daring to put 'we are committed to equality' and keeping their discriminatory employees."

Credit: TikTok

Licca later confirmed in a follow-up post that she'd contacted the store, and a spokesperson from the store had subsequently emailed her an apology.

Per the above publication, Nordstrom wrote back: "[Redacted] alerted me to your recent experience in our store. Please know that I take this very seriously and sincerely apologize."

They continued: "I appreciate you bringing this to our attention as it has made me aware of an opportunity I have with [redacted] has allowed me to follow up with her and the Department Manager.

"Nordstrom expects salespeople to make our customers feel welcome and valued, if a salesperson has trouble achieving this, they may be moved into a position where they are not working directly with our customers."

Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Vivacity.tv

If there's one thing that marginalised and minority communities love, it's being told that their struggle really isn't as big as they make it seem. From seemingly the beginning of time, the haves have always talked down to the have-nots, explaining that the status quo's just fine, and they're blowing things out of proportion.

If you're a person of colour, woman in the workplace or anything other than a cis-hetero-white male, you've probably come across this in some form or another. And it's always pretty satisfying to watch the patronising party get shut down by something as definitive as facts.

With that in mind, let's take a look, shall we, at this particularly fascinating Twitter thread involving a man who told everyone what he thought of the LGBTQ+ community. Twitter user @thejustinallenn tweeted very simply last week: "the lgbt community is entirely way too sensitive."

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/thejustinallenn/status/1086462244584652800]]

The tweet was reasonably popular, getting around 2,600 likes and 750 retweets, but pay close attention and you'll see that as many as 900 people saw fit to respond to this allegation. Of course, people responded with GIFs, memes and jokes (this is the Internet, after all), but many more responded with something way more important: actual facts. 

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/UNRULYFAG/status/1087391022097805318]]

"The life expectancy of a Trans Woman in America is 35," explains @UNRULYFAG in one response, and it's just one response that encapsulates how hard it can be to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community, even though they've made massive strides in the last 50 years. Catherine Amayi responded directly to the original tweet with another point of view that's worth taking a look at.

"You'd be that 'sensitive' if you too were constantly dehumanized, paid less than your hetero peers if employed at all, faced the risk of murder just for existing, excommunicated from the community you knew your entire life. It's not being too sensitive. It's marking boundaries."

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/oh_my_kenna_/status/1088450275348803584]]

"Oh yeah not like we are killed , raped , harassed , and sexualized. don’t mind us being too sensitive because we still get treated unfairly," added @virulentluv, hopefully helping more people to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community in the process.

But, since this is Twitter, as I mentioned earlier there are quite a few jokes to be had as well. Here are just some of them.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/bucket_chan/status/1086827672058122240]]

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/liyas_alterego/status/1086919255738716160]]

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/rosecosmos_/status/1086982369746264064]]

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SnorlaxiGalaxy/status/1086814658755997696]]

Although the community's come a long way in a relatively short period of time, there's still a lot to do before LGBTQ+ citizens can feel fully a part of the world we live in. It's something that will surely come with time, as people grow wiser and more aware, and hopefully more accepting of their differences, viewing them not as choices, but as a way of life.

Until then, we're going to get outspoken opinions of the ilk of up here. And when that happens, you can bet the LGBTQ+ community will have one hell of a response ready.

LGBTQ activists everywhere were jubilant on Wednesday when L'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company made history by announcing that they had hired an openly transgender woman to front their True Match campaign. The campaign, which was centred around championing diversity brought the brand a great deal of wide-spread acclaim from those who were pleased to see that a transgender individual was finally being lauded as "beautiful" in the mainstream media. However, L'Oréal dropped Munroe Bergdorf this morning following a media storm which saw the model slammed for harbouring supposed "racist" and "anti-white" beliefs after The Daily Mail publicised statements that she had made on Facebook in the aftermath of the violent protests at Charlottesville. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYWedIHn2yV/?taken-by=munroebergdorf]] The news publication published details of a Facebook post that Bergdorf had penned after the alt-right rally in Charlottesville, earlier this month. Whilst Bergdorf's original post has since been deleted, The Daily Mail replicated it in its entirety: "Because most of ya'll don't even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour. Your entire existence is drenched in racism. From micro-aggressions to terrorism, you guys built the blueprint for this s***. Come see me when you realise that racism isn't learned, it's inherited and consciously or unconsciously passed down through privilege. Once white people begin to admit that their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth… then we can talk. Until then stay acting shocked about how the world continues to stay f***** at the hands of your ancestors and your heads that remain buried in the sand with hands over your ears." Following the publication of the article, people took to social media to express their outrage at the 29-year-old's so-called "hateful" remarks, which were quickly branded as being "divisive". "Can't imagine you'll be a spokesperson much longer after your racist Facebook rant," one Twitter user wrote while another said, "to say one racial group are ALL racists is by definition racist in itself". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/reasonsIhatenyc/status/903394010559078400]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/DuncanWhitehead/status/903419180464136192]] Eventually the brand was forced to issue comment. They publicly severed ties with the model and Trans rights activist, claiming that her views made her at "odd" with their "values". In a statement, they justified ending their partnership with Bergdorf on account to their commitment to "[supporting] diversity and tolerance towards all people irrespective of their race, background, gender and religion". The continued: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/LOrealParisUK/status/903549805305241600]] Bergdorf has since attempted to put her controversial statements into "context". Taking to her personal Facebook page, she clarified that not only was her rant "not written this week" but that it was an undeviating response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville where self confessed neo-Nazis wielded torches and shouted anti-semitic remarks: "When I stated that "all white people are racist", I was addressing that fact that western society as a whole, is a SYSTEM rooted in white supremacy - designed to benefit, prioritise and protect white people before anyone of any other race. Unknowingly, white people are SOCIALISED to be racist from birth onwards. It is not something genetic. No one is born racist." [[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/munroebergdorfpersonal/posts/1509766039110568]] Bergdorf has called into question L'Oréal's commitment to the diversity that it supposedly lauds by stating that if they really cared, they would have proffered their support. Certainly, there is a good deal of irony in the fact that Bergdorf's impassioned anti-racism activism and her courage in sharing experiences of being a black, trans individual have led her to miss out on an otherwise fantastic opportunity. And in a society where the President of the United States fails to condemn the actions of the white supremacists involved in the Charlottesville tragedy, it's hard not to feel disillusioned at the state of the world.

A woman has taken to social media to reveal why she was shamed by a fellow restaurant-goer while celebrating her birthday.

Over the weekend, Adrienne Airhart took to Twitter to reveal that she had been out for her birthday dinner when she decided to take off her shawl. However, the simple act couldn't help but provoke an unnecessary comment from the woman seated at the next table about Airhart's breasts.

Writing to her 36,000+ followers, she said: "Tonight at my birthday dinner I took off my shawl and the lady at the next table said, 'well those are distracting' and moved tables."

Airhart added that she has "still got it" - and by that she means "prejudice against big naturals".

Sharing a video of her outfit, Airhart added: "This was me last night. I’m not even that hot the lady was just a hater. (Though her date did talk to me when she went to the bathroom... you can hear him)".

After being posted to Twitter on Sunday, the posts amassed a combined 38,000+ 'likes' and her video was watched more than 216,000 times.

More importantly, though, Airhart's post sparked a conversation about how many women are still shamed over something they have no control over: having breasts.

One Twitter user recalled: "I'll never forget when I was on work experience at 15 years old and the lady I was 'working' for wrote in my evaluation that I dressed inappropriately. I didn't, I was wearing exactly what they had told me to wear. I simply had breasts."

A second added: "Happy birthday! I get it. I have ginormous boobs. Had to start wearing a bra in 6th grade. Since I was the only girl wearing one I was immediately labeled a s**t and a w**e. Just for needing a bra! Enjoy your attributes, they’re gorgeous!!!"

"I had a colleague who was asked to wear more 'suitable' clothing in our office because she had big breasts... it’s a great indicator of workplace culture eh. It certainly was for the workplace anyway," a third wrote.

And a fourth tweeted in response: "My first job as a nurse, I wore the exact same scrubs as everyone else but was told that it was inappropriate because of my cleavage and told I needed to wear a shirt under my scrub top to cover up, which wasn’t the mandatory dress code. If I’d known better I would’ve fought it."

I think we all need to agree that we should absolutely stop this body-shaming right now - because nobody is here for it.

And if Airhart's most recent Instagram post is anything to go by, she's not about to let anybody make her feel bad about her own body:

Featured image credit: Vadym Drobot / Alamy