A father's gesture for his son during Pride month has gone viral, after he decided to hang a Pride flag outside their house in a conservative community.
"We are fixin' to shock Oklahoma," said John Wyatt in the video, as they proceeded to fix a LGBTQ+ ally flag to the front of their house.
Filmed to the tune of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga, the video has amassed over one million views since its June 5 upload, with many applauding the gesture.
John Wyatt's son, Caden, 16, came out in 2020, and his father has been "studying and researching" the LGBTQ+ community since. Their chosen flag features black and white stripes which "represent the heterosexual and cisgender community," with an "A" on top to represent the LGBTQ+ community, as per Wyatt's videos.
The family lives in Owasso, a town just outside of Tulsa.
"There's a lot of Q flags in our neighborhood, a lot of Trump flags and Blue Lives Matter flags, [but] you don't see any pride flags at all," John Wyatt told Buzzfeed News.
@wyattearptulsa Happy Pride Month to y’all, especially to my son! Love you @cadenwyatt12 #pridemonth #pride2021🏳️🌈 #ally #prouddad #proudmom Just do you boo…❤️
♬ Born This Way - Lady Gaga
According to Buzzfeed, most of John Wyatt's life was spent being conservative and religious, and not extensively supportive of the LGBTQ community, until he and his wife suspected their son may be gay. "That's when we really started embracing [the community], because we knew our son was gay, and at any time he could come out," he said.
"We're letting people know it's a safe place," he said. "I'm not trying to cause any controversy in the neighborhood, but maybe there's some person out there who will see that flag and smile and feel safe."
The ally flag had been picked out by Caden at their local Pride festival in 2020, over a traditional Pride rainbow flag.
"I want people to know that my parents have their back, and so do I," Caden told Buzzfeed. "I'm really lucky to have such supportive parents, because I know a lot of other people aren't as lucky as me."
After the popularity of his TikTok video, John Wyatt has been inundated with supportive comments.
"Your son is so blessed to have such loving and supportive parents. This is parenting done right," wrote one TikTok user.
"I wish there were more dads like you out there," added another.
While some comments have included anecdotes of parents with very different beliefs and parenting techniques, often writing that they wish theirs had been more like John Wyatt.
"Every time I get a comment like that, I tell them I got them," he told Buzzfeed. "If they need somebody to talk to, I'm here. And if they need a 'dad hug,' I'm here. If they're local and they need to come over for dinner, whatever—our home is open to them."
Newsweek contacted John Wyatt for comment.
