MovieAboutYou via Getty Images A New Brunswick mayor responded directly to homophobic comments on his Facebook page.

When Saint John, N.B. mayor Don Darling received hateful comments on his Facebook page regarding the city's Pride parade, he did something unexpected for a politician — he came right back at them. Darling, who has been mayor of the East Coast city since May 2016, had posted a simple message: "Looking forward to tomorrow's Pride Parade. Not going to let intolerance get me down."

Pride Parade in Saint John this afternoon. But first, Mayor Don Darling responded to some comments on his Facebook page pic.twitter.com/hxtqebsBvU — Nick Moore (@NickMooreCTV) August 12, 2017

In prior social media postings, he'd asked if anyone knew where he could get a shirt for the city's Pride Parade, planned for Aug. 12, and was met with bigoted responses (now deleted). This time, he wasn't about to let the trolls put anyone down, and he didn't care what kind of votes it cost him.

But even that wasn't enough for the mayor, who last year served as the grand marshal of the Pride parade. Later that day, he took to Facebook again to re-emphasize his support for the LGBTQ community, speaking as a man of faith and, as he puts it, "a human being." "I want a world where people feel zero apprehension, to be their beautiful, vulnerable and authentic selves. Can you imagine how much happier the world would be?" he wrote.

The parade itself saw a sole protestor, a red truck towing an anti-Pride message that, as the CBC reports, has come to the parade for at least three years. But residents of the city reportedly yelled at the truck driver to leave, telling him "his views were not welcome here," Pride president Michael Cummings told the network.

The Mayor Don Darling 🌈 A post shared by Tracey Fisher (@malibuginger) on Aug 12, 2017 at 9:42am PDT