A photo of a gay couple holding hands on a train in Thailand has gone viral, but unfortunately in part because of negative, judgemental reactions to it.

The photo of Thai creative director Naparuj Mond Kaendi, and his boyfriend Thorsten Mid was first uploaded to the BV Patrol Facebook page on Saturday morning.

The couple, who have been together for two years, were holding hands on the Sky Train in Bankok.

Despite a message on the BV Patrol page saying: “Support them: Bitter people are not welcome”, the post attracted a number of offensive remarks.

One read: “Foreigners are fond of pets”, and another, commenting on the looks of the couple, said: “I now believe that potions work.”

Other comments referred to the case of Filipino trans woman Jennifer Lauder, who was allegedly killed by US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, suggesting that Kaendi would find the same fate.

Despite a negative reaction, many on the page were quick to defend the couple, experssing support. One user wrote: “Everyone deserves to love and to be loved! Lets just all be happy to the both of them…”

Another said: “Love in different view, equality lives on,” and a third simply wrote: “The couple deserve to be respected.”

Writing on his own Instagram account, Kaendi wrote: “#THANKYOU all of you for the support and all the positivity. To be honest I wasn’t so surprised when random people walked to us last night and showed us all these candid pictures of us that have been posted the whole evening. It happened before, same time last year and all the nasty comments left me nothing but worries and tears. This year though, in the other hand, Thorsten and I, unexpectedly, are so thankful and overwhelmed by the storm of your huge support. We never meant to try to be under the spotlight and all… But thank y’all anyway,” he said on Saturday.