It started with a simple question. "Anthony, want to make out?"

But this wasn't a simple proposition between two friends. It was meant to prove a point. And the resulting scene, caught on video by a random bystander, has been gaining traction online. The clip features two college students, Kyle Murray and Anthony Lopez, successfully silencing an anti-gay preacher at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

"I was out there and I was watching and it really aggravated me. And I was thinking, 'What can I do?' People were yelling back and trying to reason with her, which didn't work because there was no logic behind what she was saying," Murray said.

Then, serendipitously, one of his best friends walked by. Murray posed the question, and the rest is recorded on video.

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Murray says that he had no clue it would spread the way it did, or that other people would ever see it. "I knew one of my friends was recording it, but that video was only going to be between us," he said. "We weren't going to put it up on YouTube. We just wanted to record it for the memory."

But another spectator uploaded a video of the scene, which has garnered over 176,000 views so far. Since the video was released on June 4th, their counter-protest has been featured on the front page of Reddit and in Gawker, The Daily Dot and The Huffington Post. But Murray says they didn't do it for the attention.

"She was spreading so much hate. And we wanted to show her love, show her that we disagree, show her that we weren't going to argue with her. We wanted to say, 'There are gay people here, and we are not okay with what you're saying.'"

Homepage image used with permission