A photo of an Oklahoma man’s pickup truck featuring custom tailgate decorations for Pride Month has gone viral.
Cody Barlow, 28, said in a post on Facebook that he used colored duct tape to create a rainbow Pride flag on the back of his truck and added the message: “Not all country boys are bigots … Happy Pride Month.”
Barlow posted a photo of his truck on the social media platform. Since then, it’s gotten hundreds of thousands of reactions and more than 70,000 shares.
{mosads}“This is important to me, not only because I have family and friends that are LGBTQ+, but also because countless people have dealt with hatred and judgement simply for who they are, and/or who they love, for far too long,” Barlow’s Facebook post reads. “Obviously doing this isn’t going to change the minds of those who are intolerant, but hopefully it can help drown out the hatred with love.”
Barlow wrote that as a “straight man that grew up here in Oklahoma, I love taking my truck mudding, going fishing, swimming at the lake, floating the river, and several other ‘country’ activities.”
CNN reports that Barlow, who lives in a rural and predominantly Christian part of the state, wanted to show his support after missing the Tulsa Pride parade.
“I hope that this can help even the slightest bit to encourage and support at least one person that needs it,” he wrote. “I hope everyone finds their inner strength to finally live life loud and proud without regard for the negativity of ignorant people.”