Gay couple gives epic response to 'fragile' homophobe who stole their Pride flag

A Chicago couple came up with the perfect way to send a strong message to the person who stole the Pride flag off their front porch. Marco Braun and his now-husband Danny Chapman, went viral last year after the duo posted a TikTok video addressing the thief and poking fun at the Pride flag-swiper whose "fragile ego" was apparently bruised by the sight of a rainbow. Replacing the stolen flag with a ton more Pride flags, the couple showed exactly what can be accomplished with sheer will and next day shipping." You can take our flag but you can never take our pride," they proudly declared in the video that has been watched over 411k times on Twitter alone.

"To the person who stole the Pride flag off our front porch," Braun says in the video. "We're so sorry the rainbow bruised your fragile ego. But, don't worry! We have next day Amazon Prime. You can keep taking our flag, but your can never take our pride. Oh, and smile! You're on camera. Love, the big 'ol homos who live here." Speaking to PinkNews about the incident that took place in August last year, Braun revealed that their flag was taken while he and Chapman were indoors.

"We had some pots holding the flag down and we heard a crash," he said. "We ran out and saw it had been taken but had a good chuckle realizing the thief pulled plant pots down onto their head." Braun, who is a virtual community and tenant engagement manager, revealed that he's faced homophobia all his life. "It's weird, as a gay man, my whole life I have been attacked or beaten down for simply just being me. I've grown very strong and don't let anything bother me," he said.

"So when I saw the flag was taken it was just another moment when someone tried to pull me down (no pun intended) but I refused to let them win. Take my flag but you can't take my pride," Braun added. Acknowledging the overwhelmingly positive response from netizens after posting the video, he said it "truly warmed" his heart and left him "feeling so loved." Braun explained that his and Chapman's decision to hang a Pride flag on their porch serves a bigger purpose. "We don't hang the flag for us alone – it's for the kids and other members of the LGBTQIA+ community who feel different and need a reminder that they themselves are not alone," he said.

"It's a symbol of love and community and a reminder that for decades, people who were gay were murdered, discriminated against, and vilified for doing what you say – simply wanting to be," Braun added. The eight-stripe Pride flag first flew at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. Designed by gay-rights activist Gilbert Baker, it has since become the symbol of the LGBTQ community across the world. "We needed something to express our joy, our beauty, our power. And the rainbow did that," Baker told CNN in a 2015 interview.

"As a community, both local and international, gay people were in the midst of an upheaval, a battle for equal rights, a shift in status where we were now demanding power, taking it," Baker wrote in his memoir. "This was our revolution: a tribal, individualistic, and collective vision. It deserved a new symbol." Over the years, several other versions of the Pride flag — a bisexual flag, pansexual flag, asexual flag, intersex flag, transgender flag, gender-fluid flag, etc. — have emerged. "A Rainbow Flag was a conscious choice, natural and necessary. The rainbow came from the earliest recorded history as a symbol of hope. In the Book of Genesis, it appeared as proof of a covenant between God and all living creatures," Baker's memoir states. "It was also found in Chinese, Egyptian, and Native American history. A Rainbow Flag would be our modern alternative to the pink triangle. Now the rioters who claimed their freedom at the Stonewall Bar in 1969 would have their own symbol of liberation."