A photo of a gay couple holding hands on a train in Thailand went viral on social media on Saturday and drew various reactions from Filipino netizens ranging from hate to support for the pair.

The photos, first posted on the BV Patrol Facebook page early Saturday morning, featured Thai creative director Naparuj Mond Kaendi and his German boyfriend Thorsten Mid holding hands while said to be onboard the Bangkok Sky Train.

BV Patrol captioned the photos with “Suporta para sa kanila! Bawal ang bitter (Support them. Bitter people are not welcome).”

However, comments on the Facebook post included offensive remarks as some netizens picked on Kaendi’s appearance with some insinuating that the Thai creative director deceived his boyfriend.

“Mga foreigner tlaga sbrang mhilig sa pets (Foreigners are fond of pets)” and “Ngaun lng ako naniniwala na totoo pla ang gayuma.. (I now believe that potions work),” said Facebook user Patrick Uberta. Facebook user Japi Tala asked Mid: “Gumising ka iho (Wake up, boy).”

User Stephen Palo said, “Baka mapemberton yan,” predicting that Kaendi might end up like Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude who was allegedly killed by US Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton last October.

According to Kaendi’s social media accounts, they have been in a relationship for the past two years.

Despite the outpour of negative remarks against Kaendi and Mid, many netizens were also quick to defend and express their support for the couple.

“Everyone deserves to love and to be loved! Lets just all be happy to the both of them…” said Facebook user Annieh Ugsang. Dennis Octavo said: “ Love in different view, equality lives on.”

While user Ciarra Dolloso Cariño said “They deserve to be respected.”

In a post on his Instagram account, Kaendi said that he was overwhelmed by the huge support they were getting from netizens.

“#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. AJH

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