A student who was assaulted for kissing his boyfriend inspired thousands of people with a message of defiance.
Cole Ledford, from Ohio in the US, saw his message retweeted tens of thousands of times after posting it alongside a picture of his bruised and swollen face.
The undergraduate at Ohio State University posted the image along with his response to the attack in a tweet addressed "To the guy who punched me tonight for kissing my boyfriend".
It read: "I'm sorry that you called me fag. I'm sorry you hit me for no reason. I'm sorry that whatever insecurities you have don't allow you to accept others for who they are. I'm sorry that I threaten you."
He added: "I'm NOT sorry I'm gay. I'm proud to be this way. I'm proud to be confident enough to love who I love and to love me. I'm proud to have friends and family that love me regardless of me. Honestly, I'm not sorry."
The message trended around the world, including in London and Singapore, after he posted it on Friday.
It was retweeted more than 20,000 times and favourited almost 50,000 times.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Boyfriend wanted to say hi and thanks for the support! Off to Cleveland to see the fam! <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/loveislove?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-149036-https://twitter.com/hashtag/loveislove?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#loveislove</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/youallrock?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-149036-https://twitter.com/hashtag/youallrock?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#youallrock</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/O1uZAToqKQ" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-149036-http://t.co/O1uZAToqKQ" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/O1uZAToqKQ</a>— Cole Ledford (@ColeLedford11) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ColeLedford11/status/530845900789526528" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-149036-https://twitter.com/ColeLedford11/status/530845900789526528" data-vars-event-id="c23">November 7, 2014</a>
Mr Ledford later posted a picture of himself with his boyfriend in which he had a black eye.
He posted: "Boyfriend wanted to say hi and thanks for the support! Off to Cleveland to see the fam! #loveislove #youallrock".
